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THE ADMINISTRATION OF 

THE ENGLISH BORDERS 

DURING THE REIGN 

OF ELIZABETH 



THESIS PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE 
SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA IN 
PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIRE- 
MENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF 
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 



BY 

CHARLES A. COULOMB, Ph. D. 




UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, Agents, NEW YORK 
1911 



•>\ 






o 



Copyright, 1911 
By the University of Pennsylvania 



J. F. TAPLEY CO. 

NIW TORK 



©CI.A300272 



PREFACE 

The history of the borders has heretofore been written 
with regard chiefly to the picturesque and romantic and 
with emphasis on those phases of it that tend to leave the 
reader with the impression that the north of England was 
an utterly wild and lawless region, the inhabitants of 
which, when they were not being raided by the Scotch, were 
taking revenge on their lowland neighbors. 

Anarchy and disorder on the borders were, however, ex- 
ceptional. It is intended, therefore, to give in this essay a 
brief account of the more orderly and usual administra- 
tion of government by the properly constituted civil and 
military authorities, and to outline the various means by 
which the northern marches of England were protected, as 
well from domestic violence as from the raids and inva- 
sions by the Scotch. C. A. C. 

July, 1911. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 
Chapter I. The Geography of the Borders .... 1 
Chapter II. The Place of Ordinary Authority in the Ad- 
ministration of the Borders 16 

Chapter III. The Office and Authority of the Wardens . 22 

Chapter IV. Border Law 46 

Chapter V. Days of Truce 63 

Chapter VI. Warden Courts 80 

Chapter VII. The Defence of the Borders 91 

Chapter VIII. Border Finance 110 

Bibliography 120 

Appendices 129 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE 

ENGLISH BORDERS DURING 

THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH 

CHAPTER I 

THE GEOGRAPHY OP THE BORDERS 

On November 18, 1558, Sir William Cecil, afterwards 
Lord Burghley, made a note of matters to be attended to on 
the entry of the queen to the crown. Very near the top 
of this list we find mentioned "The Borders of Scotland." 

Being, as they were, the frontier of England toward 
Scotland, at that time a foreign country, the defence of 
the Borders for several hundred years formed an im- 
portant part of the military policy of England; the most 
important of the nobility were called upon to ad- 
minister their government; they absorbed in their admin- 
istration and defence a considerable part of the revenues 
of the crown, and their population, reaching probably one 
hundred thousand at the time of Elizabeth, were subjected 
to an extraordinary military government in addition to 
the civil law of the realm. With the growing strength 
of government under the Tudors, and the changing relations 
with Scotland arising from the claim of Mary to the Eng- 
lish throne, as well as the progress of the Reformation in 
Scotland, the administration of the Borders reached its 
highest development and its greatest importance. It is 
for this reason Cecil puts "The Borders of Scotland" 
among the first matters to be brought to the queen's at- 
tention. 

In this memorandum Cecil probably uses the term with 



2 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 

the meaning it most often had, that is as a general name 
for the northern part of England, including the counties 
of Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmorland, the 
portions of Durham surrounded by Northumberland, and 
the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. At other times the 
phrase was used as including the three marches and ex- 
clusive of Berwick; still again, it seems to have been used 
with even less definite meaning. 

For certain governmental purposes this part of Eng- 
land was divided into four military administrative dis- 
tricts. The first was the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, 
the chief military officer of which was its governor. In- 
cluded under the jurisdiction of the governor of Berwick 
were Holy and Fame Islands, outlying portions of Dur- 
ham. 1 About fifteen miles south of the Tweed, Northum- 
berland was divided into two unequal portions by an irreg- 
ular line. This extended in a general east and west direc- 
tion from the Scottish boundary just south of the Cheviot, 2 
to the mouth of the Alne River. 3 The portion of North- 
umberland to the north and east of this line was the East 
March, while the Middle March included all the rest of 
the county. Cumberland and Westmorland together 
formed the yet more extensive West March. Of these 
two counties Cumberland was of the greater importance 
in Border affairs. 4 

The boundary line between the East and Middle 
Marches was somewhat uncertain. In a memorandum on 
the borders dated 1580, the boundary is given as coming 
down by a small stream called Cawdgate, rising to the 

i Calendar of Border Papers, Vol. II, No. 1429. 

2 The highest point of the Cheviot Hills, near their eastern end. 

3C. B. P., I, 76. 

* C. B. P., II, 1435. In this essay, "Borders" is used in a gen- 
eral sense, including the three northern counties and Berwick. 
"Marches" is used when speaking of the specific divisions of the 
three counties. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 3 

south of the Cheviot, thence to the River Till, thence to 
the north side of Bewick lordship, thence down the Warne 
to Warneford. The East borderers said, however, that the 
boundary went to Bewick and clown the River Alne to Aln- 
mouth, because of part of Alnwick lordship being mustered 
with the East March. 5 A commissioner appointed to in- 
vestigate the administration of the Marches says, in 1550, 
"but of the perfect boundes betwene theis two marchies 
I coulde never be certeyne. ' ' 6 

The lists of towns and castles in the Marches which are 
from time to time found in the state papers seem to sub- 
stantiate the claim of the East March to jurisdiction over 
the land between the Alne and the Warne. 7 

The phrase, "Debatable Lands," so often met with in 
dealing with affairs along the Borders, seems to have been 
used with various meanings. Almost at the end of the 
reign of Elizabeth, in 1597, we find it used to designate a 
portion of the land between the Esk and Sark Rivers at 
the extreme western end of the boundary line between the 
two Kingdoms, the ownership of which had been settled 
for nearly fifty years, and which continued to be called the 
Debatable Lands even in the reign of James. 8 This ter- 
ritory had, by a treaty made in 1552, been given to Eng- 
land as her share of a disputed peninsula between the 
two rivers just mentioned. 9 Each country got about four 
thousand acres, 10 "much of it as fertile as any in these 
North parts." 11 

There was, however, other ground along the borders 

s State Papers, Borders, XX, 76. 

o Report of Robert Bowes. Cott. Ms. Titus. F. 13, f. 160. 

"Sadler State Papers, II, p. 19; State Papers, Borders, XX, 76; 
C. B. P., I, 162; C. B. P., II, 125. 

8C. B. P., II, 598; C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Jas. I, 
XXXVII, 38. 

s Rymer, Vol. VI, pt. iii, p. 223. 

io C. B. P., II, 598. 

ii C. S. P., Dom., Add., 15474565, E. VI, II, 32. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 




THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 5 

that continued through the reign of Elizabeth to be de- 
batable in fact as well as in name. In the East March 
for example there seem to have been three well-known 
parcels, all situated near the point where the English- 
Scotch boundary leaves the Tweed and ascends the Red- 
denburn. One called the Midrigg contained about one 
hundred acres, a second, the Threape Rigg contained about 
three hundred acres, and a third, still further south, con- 
taining about one hundred acres. 12 

The Middle March also had three pieces of debatable 
ground along the Scotch boundary. Two lay close to- 
gether near Cumberland, the third was near the boundary 
between the East and Middle Marches. In 1580, Sir 
John Forster said that he had sent Cecil a plot of the 
debatable ground in the Middle March. 13 There is also a 
statement that the Earls of Northumberland and West- 
morland after their defeat in 1569, were driven to fly to 
the debatable lands between Liddesdale and England. 14 

There was also some debatable land in the West 
March. In 1592, we find a complaint from Lord Max- 
well, a Scotch Warden, that some of the Graemes had 
wrongfully occupied three pieces of land, — one for thirty 
years of the value per annum of one hundred pounds 
Scots, another of twenty-five years standing of the value of 
two thousand five hundred pounds Scots, a sum equal to 
about six hundred twenty-five pounds sterling, and a third 
worth forty pounds sterling a year. 15 

These debatable lands were the source of much trouble 
for the wardens, since both the Scotch and English of- 
ficers refused to listen to complaints brought by those of 
the opposite nation concerning spoilings in these pieces 
of territory. It was the business of each nation to keep 

12 State Papers, Borders, XX, f. 138. 

is Ibid. 

K C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1566-1579, Eliz. XV, 117. 

"State Papers, Borders, XXVII, ff. 223, 224. 



6 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 

the subjects of the other from deriving benefits from the 
disputed land. Thus, Lord Grey in his orders to John Selby, 
Gentleman Porter of Berwick, in 1561, told him he was 
"to waste sufficiently the usurped ground." 16 In 1573, 
Sir Thomas Grey seized one thousand cattle which he 
claimed were feeding on English ground but which the 
Scots said were on Scots' ground. 17 

Sir William Bowes in a letter to Cecil, October, 1598, 
describes how some of this land came to be in dispute. 
He tells him that the Scotch made such raids that no 
Englishmen dare plant corn or pasture their cattle and 
that when the land is deserted by its former inhabitants 
"the Scots plant houses or keep their summer shieldings 
or stafherd their cattle or cut wood or hunt at their own 
pleasure. " 18 In another case Robert Bowes said : — 

"They [the Scotch] had sought also for right to damme 
theyr right course & channell of the water of Elterburne 
to make the same divert & alter his course into the ground 
of England to the ende to winne certyne ground called 
"Water Haughes. Sr Rafe Ellerker vndammed the river 
& drave him to his old course. ' ' 19 Again, near Berwick, 
the Scotch moved certain of the boundary stones into 
English territory. 20 

In one or another of these ways, ground which was 

actually English might come into the nominal possession 

of Scotchmen and so become debatable. Sometimes an 

agreement was reached by which each nation pastured 

cattle on the ground in dispute, driving them home each 

night. 21 

is C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 260. 
"Ibid, 1572-1574, 1193. 
is C. B. P., II, 1001. 

is Sir Robert Bowes' Collection of Border Causes, No. 17, in State 
Papers, Borders, XX, 76. 

20 C. S. P., Foreign, 1566-1568, 1017. 

21 State Papers, Borders, XX, 76 ; Hamilton Papers, Scotch Record 
Publications, I 3 i, 54. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 7 

Many efforts were made during the reign of Elizabeth 
to divide the debatable lands. The first suggestion to 
mark the boundary was made in 1561, but nothing definite 
appears to have resulted from this attempt at settlement. 22 
In 1564, a commission was granted to the Earl of Bedford 
and Sir John Forster to treat with Lord Maxwell and Mr. 
Justice Clerk for determining the boundaries between Eng- 
land and Scotland on the East and Middle Marches. 
Later, Randolph was added to the commission. Before 
anything was done, the negotiations of Elizabeth with the 
Protestant party in Scotland, following tne Scotch queen's 
marriage with Bothwell, and other more important in- 
ternational affairs interfered. 23 In 1575, we hear of 
another attempt at partition, 24 in 1580, of a third, 25 and 
again in 1597-98. 26 The union of the kingdoms under 
James seems to have occurred without the exact boundaries 
between them having been fixed. 

The border counties, especially in the portions nearest 
Scotland, are rough and hilly. The deeper valleys run 
generally from southwest to northeast. Through the hills 
forming the steep sides of these valleys numerous streams 
have cut passes or gaps, extending for long distances at 
right angles to the principal valleys. 

It was through these valleys and dales that the Scotch 
found their way into England, and it was to prevent 
such use of them that the English had constructed a 
line of more or less strong castles and towers which might 
be used either for defence against or refuge from the 
Scotch. Berwick was the most important of these de- 

22 C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 260. 

23 C. S. P., For., 1564-1565, 381, 420, 549, 572, 665, 1040, etc. 

24 Ibid, 1575-1577, 554. 

25 State Papers, Borders, XX, f. 138. 

26 C. B. P., II, 1001 ; Rymer, VII, pt. i, p. 187. Letter of Queen 
Elizabeth to William Bowes. 



8 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 

fences. Situated on the north side of the Tweed within 
the geographical limits of Scotland, the Berwick Bounds 
included an irregular oblong of land containing about ei-ht 
square miles. The town of Berwick, situated at about 
the middle of the base of the oblong, was a constant source 
of care and expense to the queen, and a large part of her 
expenditure in the North was chargeable to the construc- 
tion and repair of its fortifications. 

About six miles further up the Tweed is Norham Castle 
This was the strongest place of defence in the East March 
and the various inspectors sent from London to view the 
state of the borders, constantly call the attention of Lord 
Burghley or Secretary Cecil to this fact and to the ne- 
cessity of keeping the place in good repair. 2 * Still farther 
up the Tweed, near where it ceases to be the boundary- 
Ime between England and Scotland, is Wark Castle Of 
the castles in the East March this was second only to 
Norham in strength and importance. Concerning these 
two castles, Robert Bowes reported in 1579 that "Norham 
and Warke, the twoe principall and onlie places of strength 
uppon this border are so greatlie in ruyns and decaid as 
no man dare dwell in them, and yf spedie remedie bee 
not had they will fall flatt to the ground." In the same 
report Bowes estimates that it will cost twelve hundred 
pounds to repair Norham. 28 Wooler, Newton, Pressen 
Dunham and Cornhill were depended upon by the warden 
to aid in the supression of the thieves of Tevidale.™ The 
location of these castles and towers left a long stretch of 
undefended territory between Harbottle Castle in the Mid- 
dle March and Wark in the East March, so in 1580 it 
was proposed that the queen should build three new towers 
between Harbottle and the Tweed and one between Har- 

«£■?• «\l' 75 - C0tt Ms< Cali S- B - VIII > f - 384 > dors. 
28 Ibid, if. 384, 395, dors. 

28 C. B. P., I, 162. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 9 

bottle and the West March, the places available being 
small and the property of subjects. 30 

In the Middle March, Alnwick Castle was the residence 
of Lord Grey and Sir John Forster during their warden- 
ships and was capable of caring for a considerable garrison, 
but it was nearly thirty miles from Scotland and hence ill- 
adapted to afford much protection to the English against 
raids of the Scotch. 31 This castle, now the chief resi- 
dence of the Duke of Northumberland, is to-day one of 
the finest feudal fortresses in England, and the principal 
battery looks far over the valley of the Alne towards Scot- 
land. Harbottle was much better situated, both as a castle 
against the Scot and as a menace to the unruly English of 
Tynedale and Redesdale. Sir Ralph Sadler in a sur- 
vey made in May, 1559, urged its importance and suggested 
that it should have certain church lands of Durham an- 
nexed to it, in order better to provide for its keeper. 32 

Hexham was sometimes used as a military station but 
was too far from the border to be of much service. 33 
Either Chipchase or Haltwhistle was commonly the resi- 
dence of the Keeper of Tynedale, one of the deputy war- 
dens of the Middle March. The Keeper of Redesdale, the 
other deputy, usually held Harbottle. Morpeth and Wark- 
worth Castles were considerable places but are infre- 
quently mentioned in the border papers of this period. 

Carlisle Castle was the chief place of defence in the 
West March. The Wardenship of the West March and 
the Captaincy of the Castle of Carlisle were always in the 
hands of the same individual during the reign of Eliza- 
beth. 34 In the West March was also the strong fortress 



so State Papers, Borders, XX, 76. 
si Cary's Memoirs, p. 96. 

32 Sadler State Papers, II, p. 15. 

33 C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 1054. 

3i C. B. P., I, 785; State Papers, Borders, XX, 76. 



10 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 

of Bewcastle, situated in the northeast corner of Cum- 
berland near the Scotch border. 

This castle corresponded in situation to Wark in the 
East March. Naworth Castle and Lanercost Priory were 
farther south and were usually kept by one of the two 
warden-serjeants of the West March. Upon the treason 
and flight of Leonard Dacre in 1570, Naworth ceased to 
be inhabited, and in 1580 is described as being dilapidated. 
After the accession of James the castle was restored to 
Dacre 's family in the person of Lord William Howard 
who had married a niece of Lord Thomas Dacre. Lord 
Howard restored the castle and continued to live there 
until his death in 16 40. 35 The other warden-serjeant, the 
Land-serjeant of Gilsland, occupied Askerton Tower at 
Gilsland to protect the Cumberland farmers as much from 
domestic as from foreign violence. 36 

In a list found in the State Papers there is a total of 
about one hundred castles, and towers of less improtance, 
that were counted upon to aid in the defence of the borders. 
The abbeys and priories were almost always fortified, as 
their ruins indicate, and Scott speaks even of the great 
cathedral far to the south, as 

"Time honored Durham 
Half house of God, half castle 'gainst the Scot." 

Included within the bounds of the three marches but 
administratively separate from the authority of the war- 
dens were little islands of territory whose keepers, like 
the wardens, appear to have owed their appointment 
directly to the sovereign. Thus, Robert Bowes writes in 
1580, "The L. Warden is by the wording of his patent 

35 "Household Books of Sir William Howard," Surtees Soc. Pub., 
Vol. LXVIII, pp. 365-393; C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. 
XXVII, 44; "House of Howard," pp. 543, et seq. 

36 C. B. P., I, 162; C. B. P., II, 982. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 11 

ordayned chefe Steward of all the princes Lordshippes, 
manors & landes wthin his precinct not otherwise dis- 
posed to any particular person." 37 The result of their 
independence was in some cases serious interference with 
the government of the marches, both through the encour- 
agement to evil-doers and through the less effective ad- 
ministration resulting from divided authority. 

In the East March the most important of these franchises 
was Norham. Sometimes we find Norham and Holy and 
Fame Islands grouped together under the name of "Nor- 
ham and Islandshire. " 38 

These places, as John Cary explained to Burghley, 
formed a liberty within themselves, belonging to the Bishop 
of Durham, and ought to be in the hands of the Warden 
of the East March. 39 Besides its captain, Norham had a 
sheriff, escheator, coroner, steward and bailiff. 40 Justice 
was administered by the captain and his officials and even 
the governor of Berwick had no authority beyond the 
middle of the long bridge over the Tweed except with the 
consent of the captain of Norham. 41 Sir Henry Percy, who 
was captain in 1564, succeeded in maintaining his claim 
that Tweedmouth was part of Norham and out of the juris- 
diction of the Governor and Council of Berwick. 42 Lord 
Hunsdon avoided this sort of trouble by having his son 
appointed to the captaincy of Norham. 43 

Hexham and Hexhamshire in the Middle March was 
independent until 1572, when it had its privileges taken 
away through annexation to Northumberland by the 
Act of 14 Elizabeth, Chapter 13, in which it is described 

37 State Papers, Borders, XX, 76. 

38 Sadler State Papers, II, p. 14. 

39 C. B. P., II, 34. 

40 Burghley Papers, Haynes, I, p. 397. 
4i C. B. P., I, 838; C. B. P., II, 31. 

42 C. S. P., For., 1564-1565, 196. 

43 C. B. P., II, 25. 



12 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 

as a County Palatine. It had just previously been ac- 
quired by the crown through an exchange of lands with 
the Archbishop of York. 44 The town of Hexham had been 
granted by Henry VIII to Sir Reginald Carnabie, in 1538, 
on the dissolution of the monastery. 45 It was too far from 
the border to give much difficulty to the warden during 
the few years of its independent position after the acces- 
sion of Elizabeth. 

In the West March we find three important districts 
independent of the warden or nearly so. Bewcastle, the 
most important of these, was situated just at the point 
where the Scotch thieves of Liddesdale or the English of 
Tynedale would be most apt to enter and rob or murder 
the Cumberland farmer. The captaincy of Bewcastle had 
been granted to Sir Simon Musgrave of Eden Hall before 
Elizabeth came to the throne. 46 "We find constant com- 
plaint from the warden to the Privy Council concerning 
the sins of omission or commission on the part of one 
who should have been his foremost supporter. 

In June, 1584, for example, Lord Scrope, as warden, 
prayed that Sir Simon might be called before the Council 
to take orders that some sufficient person be despatched to 
be in charge of Bewcastle for its better defence. 47 Thomas 
Musgrave, son of Sir Simon, was, in 1593, commanded 
by the Council to submit to Lord Scrope, 48 who appears 
to have had no remedy in his own hands against Musgrave. 
In another letter Lord Scrope requested Burghley to an- 
swer and give directions to Musgrave regarding the latter 's 
desire to take revenge on the Scotch for thieving. 49 Not 

44 Statutes of the Realm, Vol. IV, pt. ii, p. 604 ; C. S. P., Dom., 
Add., 1566-1579, Eliz. XXI, 44. 

45 "The Priory of Hexham," Surtees Soc. Pub., Vol. 44, pt. i, App. 
p. CLXV. 

46 C. B. P., I, 434. 

47 Ibid, 225. 

48 Ibid, 935. 

49 Ibid, 968. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 13 

long after, in 1595, the Privy Council wrote to Scrope stat- 
ing that Musgrave was accused of conniving at Scotch raids 
into England and requesting him to suggest some one to 
take his place. 50 

Almost as much difficulty came to Lord Scrope over 
Gilsland Barony. There was some dispute as to the of- 
ficial relationship of the land-serjeant of Gilsland to the 
Warden. We find a statement that the land-serjeant 
was an officer of the warden in Lord Dacre's time, and 
the counter-statement that the warden never had anything 
to do with Gilsland. 51 Whatever may be the truth of the 
matter, Lord Scrope treated the land-serjeant, Thomas 
Carleton, with a great deal of consideration, consulting 
with him as to the measures of defense and protesting to 
the Privy Council about Carleton 's lack of respect for 
him instead of taking more summary measures. 5 - Gilsland 
included much territory near the Border. Fourteen or 
fifteen manors and their bailiffs and a great number of 
tenants were under the land-serjeant 's jurisdiction as 
Marshal Steward. 53 Among other duties, he was to have 
the martial government of all the queen's tenants, he was 
to reside within the barony and was to prosecute all 
murders by Scots to the boundary; if by others he was to 
seize them and deliver them for trial, 54 a power almost 
as extensive as that granted to the warden himself. 

A broken clan, 55 known as the Graemes or Grahams, 
had dwelt in the land between the Esk and Sark for years 
and had maintained their independence against both the 
English and Scotch wardens. After the division of the 
territory those dwelling within the English portion refused 

so c. B. P., II, 110. 
si Ibid, 825. 

52 C. S. P., For., 1572-1574, 366, 1563. 

53 C. B. P., II, 824. 

54 Ibid, 982. 

55 A broken clan was one without any acknowledged chief. 



14 THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 

to answer to the warden, claiming to be the queen's ten- 
ants and holding authority from her just as immediately 
as the warden did. 

Thus we read that in 1562 the chiefs refused to answer 
for their surnames or for their whole clan but w T ould only 
be responsible for themselves, their sons, or their servants. 56 
Again about twenty years later there is evidence of the 
same independence. Lord Herries, the Scotch warden, 
wished to make an arrangement with the Graemes to be- 
have themselves while he was in pursuit of certain Scotch 
rebels and they agreed with Lord Scrope to wait twenty 
days till he could communicate with London before they 
replied to Lord Herries' offer. 57 Affairs seem to have 
grown worse instead of better with the lapse of time, for 
in May, 1601, all the most important gentlemen in Scrope 's 
wardenry joined in a petition to the Privy Council in 
which, among other things, they said that the Graemes 
contemned the government and warrants of the Lord War- 
den and ill-treated his ministers. "They take upon them 
law dayes and undeasent orders emongst themselves and 
never will appeare either at assize or sessions. ' ' 5S 

For some reason, Elizabeth treated the Graemes with 
great consideration in spite of the trouble they were con- 
tinually giving her wardens. 59 The state papers contain 
many complaints similar to the above. James I, who had 
little or no cause to worry about the borders or their de- 
fence, removed most of the Graemes to Ireland in 1607- 
1608. 60 



ss C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 995. 

57 C. B. P., I, 221. 

ss C. B. P., II, 1372. 

59 Acts of the Privy Council, 1597, p. 344; C. B. P., I, 845; C. 
B. P., II, 424. 

go For an account of the transportation of the Graemes to Ire- 
land, see "The Condition of the Borders at the Union, and the De- 
struction of the Graham Clan," by John Graham, London, 1907. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE BORDERS 15 

That there were many other franchises of less importance 
in the North appears by references in the records to leet 
courts, private escheats, and other similar evidences of 
the possession of the inferior regalities. 



CHAPTER II 

THE PLACE OP ORDINARY AUTHORITY IN THE ADMINISTRA- 
TION OP THE BORDERS 

Before considering the question of the martial govern- 
ment of the Borders we wish to speak of the civil and crim- 
inal jurisdiction exercised in that part of England by the 
usual royal and county officers. It is to be kept in mind that 
the division of the counties of Northumberland, Cumber- 
land and Westmorland into marches was for special mili- 
tary purposes resulting from their peculiar geographical 
position on the boundary between England and what was 
then a foreign country. 

In all cases in which the safety of the kingdom was not 
concerned, either through treason from within or inva- 
sion from without, the county orginazation retained at 
least its nominal authority, and enforced the common and 
statute law of the realm to the best of its moderate ability. 

The usual legal processes went on in the Borders as 
elsewhere in England, while the extraordinary authority 
of the warden and his officers rested on this county or- 
ganization like a net work, often entangling everyone 
concerned in the meshes of conflicting jurisdictions. In 
a note on the Borders made about 1580, we find, for ex- 
ample, the following statement: "The manner of execu- 
tion of the Lawes and administration of justice in the 
Borders is all wth yt in thother Cowntyes of the Realme. 
The Justices of peace Sheriffes of Shires Eschetes Coro- 
ners etc. and all officers of Corporations exercise theyr 
authoritie according to theyr jurisdiction. And the As- 
sizes are yearelie kept as in other places. ' ' 1 

i State Papers, Borders, Vol. XX, 76. 

16 



PLACE OF ORDINARY AUTHORITY 17 

In the first place, there is evidence that quarter sessions 
and courts of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery were 
held with considerable regularity. 2 For example, in 1559, 
Lord Eure requested that a commission of oyer and ter- 
miner might be addressed to him and to others for the 
administration of justice, "as well by the laws of this realm 
and the statutes of the town of Berwick as by martial 
law," and the Earl of Bedford makes a like request in 
1564. 3 On the last four days of July, 1561, the President 
of the North and his Council kept a quarter sessions at Aln- 
wick in the Middle March, where twenty-four offenders 
were condemned of whom certain ones were removed to Dur- 
ham, 4 and, presumably, the others were executed. The 
Sheriff of Northumberland could hold his county court 
either in Newcastle, Morpeth, Alnwick or Hexham. 5 Fines 
and amercements of sessions and gaol deliveries were 
given to the sheriff as part of his allowance. We also read 
of an assize being held at Carlisle, in 1584, in which Simon 
Graeme and others were convicted before Mr. Justice 
Clenche, and Mr. Francis Rodes, Sergeant at Law, the 
queen's justices, of murdering George Graeme, and in 1591, 
we find that ''Simon Grame alias Symme of Medhoppe, 
John Grame alias Jock of Medhoppe," and others were 
indicted for having committed "sondry murders and 
ffellonyes." 6 

By 1590, the practice of holding sessions at Alnwick 
had apparently been discontinued. In June of that year, 
Sir John Forster captured a "coyner" and two murderers. 
He detained the counterfeiter until he received instructions 
from the Privy Council, and sent the murderers to Dur- 

2C. S. P., For., 1564-1565, 320; ibid, 1572-1574, 603, 1232, etc. 

3 Ibid, 1558-1559, 204. 

4 Ibid, 1561-1562, 367. 

5 Ibid, 156"2, 1393. 

«C. B. P., I, 252, 256, 352; State Papers, Borders, XXVII, f. 50. 



18 PLACE OF ORDINARY AUTHORITY 

ham for trial. 7 In 1596, Lord Eure, who had succeeded 
Forster as warden of the Middle March, sent Lionel Carle- 
ton to Durham to be tried for burglary, and later re- 
quests that gaol deliveries be held at Hexham or at New- 
castle. 8 This request was probably granted, for, in July, 
1602, John Cary spent three days at the Newcastle assizes. 9 
In the West March the assizes continued to be held at 
Carlisle. In July, 1597, two thieves escaped from jail 
during the assize in that city and in 1600 we read that 
one Wattie was held for trial at the Carlisle assizes for 
stealing a horse. 10 

The ordinary administration appears to have retained 
its jurisdiction even over affairs in which the military 
officers themselves were concerned. In 15&7, a military 
officer, Sir "William Selby, Gentleman Porter of Berwick, 
was bound to answer at the next assizes for raising a dis- 
turbance during the meeting of the English and Scotch 
Commissioners at Berwick. 11 

The justices at times must have been impatient of 
the martial authority of the wardens if we believe the 
complaint of Richard Lowther, acting warden of the West 
March in 1592. In a letter he asks Burghley to write 
to the justices of assize to show him countenance for the 
better advancement of her majesty's service, without which 
he would be unable to perform the expected good offices. 12 

On the other hand the civil administration often called 
upon the military one for aid. Sometimes the sheriff 
and warden together could not secure the appearance of 
offenders. 13 

7 C. B. P., I, 73. 

s C. B. P., II, 203, 617. 

9 Ibid, 1477. 

io Ibid, 682, 1241. 

n Ibid, 498, 499, 500, 513, etc. 

12 C. B. P., I, 749. 

is C. B. P., II, 1241, 1386. 



PLACE OF ORDINARY AUTHORITY 19 

The assizes in the north were held but once a year, 14 
and the right of hearing appeals was reserved to the Privy 
Council. 15 Other references to the ordinary judicial pro- 
cesses are frequent. 16 

We find also that there is the usual complement of 
county officials. In 1562, a bill was proposed touching 
the Sheriffs of the North which aimed at fixing more 
definitely their powers. This does not appear to have 
passed into an act. 17 

In 1603 Sir William Selby, who had a dwelling and 
residence in Kent, was appointed Sheriff of Northumber- 
land. He was relieved of that part of his oath requir- 
ing residence in Northumberland and could appoint a 
deputy-sheriff or sheriffs. 18 The sheriffs of all the northern 
counties were required to accept search warants for per- 
sons wanted by a warden and to bring them to the 
latter 's residence. 19 There is besides constant reference 
in the state papers to the sheriffs in the north. 20 

The bailiffs of the queen's manors were to account for 
escheats to the queen, but they must have been derelict 
in their duties, for both in the East and in the Middle 
March there were complaints that the wardens or their 
officers converted escheats and seizures to their own use 
instead of accounting for them to the queen. 21 

The coroner was another official who had his usual duties 
to perform in the marches. In 1584, the queen's coro- 
ners in Carlisle found that George Graeme came to his 



"Ibid, 862. 

is C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Elizabeth XXX, 106. 
is C. S. P., For., 1564-1565, 320; ibid, 1572-1574, 603, 1232; C. 
B. P., I, 240; C. B. P., II, 1267, etc. 
it C. S. P., For., 1562, 1393. 
is Egerton Papers, Camden Soc. Pub., XII, 389. 
is G. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. XXXII, 59. 
20 C. B. P., I, 643, 721; C. B. P., II, 523, 1386, etc. 
2i Ibid, 746, 1267, 881. 



20 PLACE OF ORDINARY AUTHORITY 

death by being struck between the shoulders by Richard 
Graeme with a spear worth twenty pence and so felled 
to the ground, and when he tried to arise Simon Graeme 
struck him in the calf of the left leg with a sword worth 
seven shillings and four pence. 22 In a letter dated the 
same year we read that coroner's inquests had long been 
held in Berwick. 23 

In 1597, in a memorandum proposing reforms on the Bor- 
ders, it is stated that "it is fytt th't a clarke of the M' 
Kette be erected for there is no sutch officer in North- 
umb. ' ' 24 This was done so that a market court might be 
held. 

In spite of all this evidence that the ordinary forms 
of government existed in the marches, there is an abun- 
dance of other evidence that its actual administration was 
neither energetic nor successful. There was, for example, 
the difficulty that the gentlemen of the marches were 
ignorant of legal procedure. Thus, in 1596, Lord Eure, 
in a letter to the Privy Council, said that there was 
no justice of the peace able to give a charge at a session 
or to aid the gentlemen on any point of law. He re- 
turned the Commission of the Peace that had been sent 
to Sir John Forster, and requested a new one to include 
himself and George Lightfoote, "a lawyere of whome we 
stand greate need, whoe lyeth in Busshopricke, and none 
nearer hand. " 25 On another occasion it was urged that 
the Justices of the Peace should attend sessions quarterly, 
under bond, and otherwise perform their duties. 26 

22 c. B. P., I, 232. 

23 Ibid, 230. 

2i State Papers, Borders, XXXV, f. 157. The value of a personal 
chattel that caused the death of any person was assessed by the 
jury and was to be forfeited to the Crown. Originally the money 
was devoted to religious or charitable purposes, whence arose the 
name deodand, i. e., Deo dandum, to be given to God. 

25 C. B. P., II, 194. 

26 State Papers, Borders, XXXV, f. 157. 



PLACE OF ORDINARY AUTHORITY 21 

A more serious trouble was due to the venality of the 
justices. An anonymous letter to the queen, dated 1597, 
complained that the justices "keep no order for quarter 
sessions"; that they remove no forcible entries; that they 
take no care of markets nor reform the rates of corn ; 
and that they release unbailable felons on insufficient 
bonds, of which the queen gets not one groat. In evidence 
of this the complainant said that the queen's itinerant 
justices will tell her that a Northumberland bail is as 
good as a queen's pardon. 27 In this same letter we find 
evidence of what appears to be a rather general survival 
of the leet or manorial court. The writer finishes by 
saying that every warden officer and "every larde that 
hathe but a leet court" is absolute lord of all escheats 
and the queen gets the least. 28 No other mention of leet 
courts was found, although the private bonding of thieves 
by certain lords, of which much complaint was made by 
the wardens, may imply the existence of such courts. 

27 C. B. P., II, 881. 

28 Ibid. 



CHAPTER III 

THE OFFICE AND AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

Besides the usual form of government, the peculiar 
location of the marches and the circumstances under which 
the northern counties had been made definitely a part of 
the nation of England had brought about the organiza- 
tion of a special form of semi-military administration. 1 

The chief officer of this organization was called the 
Warden. The number of wardens at any one time had 
varied during the history of the office from one to three. 
Early in the reign of Elizabeth, however, the council 
finally settled on the policy of appointing a warden for 
each of the three marches and of making them independ- 
ent of each other within their several marches. During the 
reigns of Elizabeth's predecessors it had been the custom 
to appoint these officials from the head of the great border 
families, such as the Percies, the Dacres and the Nevilles. 
At her accession the "West March had Lord Dacre for its 
warden, while the "Wardenships of the East and Middle 
Marches were combined under Thomas Percy, Earl of 
Northumberland. There was some suspicion of the loy- 
alty of these officers to the new queen and her policies, 
and there is evidence that this distrust was on account of 
the religious sympathies of the wardens. 2 The next year 
Cecil wrote to Sir Ralph Sadler, who was on a tour of 
investigation in the North, that the "Warden of the East 
March would be permitted to come to London after he 
had ended his commission and that he (Cecil) would gladly 

i In this connection it is interesting to note that these counties 
were divided into wards instead of hundreds or wapentakes. 

2 Sadler State Papers, I, pp. 410, 449, 452; C. S. P., For., 1558- 
1559, 1346, 1351. 

22 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 23 

have something against the Warden of the West March 
at his (Sadler's) coming up. 3 

In a report dated a few days later Sadler suggested 
new incumbents for the East, Middle and West Marches, 
all of them from the northern counties. 4 Evidently the 
new policy had not yet been formulated, for we find that, 
following these recommendations, Sir John Forster of Barn- 
borough was made Warden of the Middle March and had 
the Keeperships of Tynedale and Redesdale annexed to 
his office, 5 and Lord Grey of Wilton was appointed to the 
Wardenship of the East March. No change was made in 
the West March. 6 In 1563, Valentine Brown was sent 
to survey the state of the Borders. In a report to Cecil 
he recommended that the wardens should be southern men 
for the reason that there would be less danger from the 
disaffected nobles and others and that there would be 
better order, for the southern men could do better with 
one thousand men than the border lords with fifteen hun- 
dred. 7 The selection of wardens from other than border 
counties now became the policy of Elizabeth, for while 
Sir John Forster was not finally removed from office until 
his increasing incapacity compelled that step to be taken 
in 15S'5, no further new appointments as wardens were 
made from the border nobility. 8 

The wardens appear to have been selected by a vote 
of the Privy Council, as is indicated in a letter of Sir 
Robert Cary to Cecil in which the former asked the Secre- 
tary to vote for him for the office of Warden. 9 There 

3 Sadler State Papers, I, p. 460. 

4 C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 1409. 
5C. B. P., II, 122. 

6 C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 260. 
i Ibid, 1563, 887. 

s A list of the wardens of each march during the reign of Eliza- 
beth is given in Appendix A. 

9 C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. XXXIII, 19. 



24 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

seems to be no doubt, however, that Elizabeth's personal 
wish was often the deciding factor. Lord Hunsdon died 
in 1596, after being Warden of the East March for thirty 
years and Robert Cary, who had been commissioned as 
deputy warden, was very anxious to get his father's place. 
His importunities resulted in Elizabeth's sending him the 
following characteristic letter : — 

"We doo wish you once againe to leave this course of 
peremptorie writings and doo command you to doo as you 
ought, for we that can judge what is fitt for you, will doo 
thinges as we please and when we please. Let these things 
therefore be perfourmed by you which you shall find by 
the treatie you ought to doo, and without any further 
importunitie and as William Bowes and Robert Bowes 
shall at any time direct you. And that being ended you 
shall then knowe what shall become of you." 10 Not long 
afterwards Lord Willoughby was appointed to the place 
that Cary had sought. 

Once having been commissioned, the warden could not 
resign his office when he felt so disposed, 11 nor did even 
the notice of his supersession relieve him of his duties 
until the arrival of the new warden. 12 

The Governorship of Berwick was usually in the hands 
of the Warden of the East March and the Captaincy of 
the Castle of Carlisle in that of the Warden of the West 
March. The two latter offices were not held separately 
after the accession of Elizabeth, nor were the two former 
except when ad interim, appointments of a deputy governor 
and a deputy warden were made. 13 Sometimes, however, 
the commission as Governor of Berwick was not granted 



10 c. B. P., II, 651. 

ii Letter of Hunsdon to Burghley; Ellis' Original Letters, Series 
II, Vol. Ill, No. 221, p. 105. 

12 Burghley Papers, Haynes, I, p. 2; C. B. P., II, 145, 154. 
is C. B. P., I, 785; Burghley Papers, Haynes, I, pp. 374, 375. 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 25 

till some time after the commission as warden or vice 



versa 



n 



The powers of the warden were denned in his com- 
mission of wardenry; in the instructions sent him from 
time to time by the queen or Privy Council ; in the 
statutes applicable to the marches; in various treaties 
made with Scotland referring to border affairs; and, 
finally, in certain customary powers which the wardens 
from time immemorial had exercised. 

The commission was a long and wordy document and 
when it was issued generally included any powers or special 
methods of procedure which up to that time had been 
settled by treaty with Scotland. Excepting such differ- 
ence, the commissions are much alike in text. 

In the commission granted to Lord Hunsdon to be 
Warden of the Middle March during the trial of Sir John 
Forster, in 1587, he was given all the power and special 
commandment to do and to execute all that was usually 
done by the warden and keeper in the reigns of Richard 

II, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard 

III, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary; 
to correct, reform or amend by the seizure of lands, goods 
or chattels; to listen to all pleas, plaints or debates; in 
case of imprisonment or other hostile acts to hear and 
determine the same ; to hold warden courts and sessions 
in whatsoever place he saw fit (in the Middle March), to 
inquire concerning offences against the truce made be- 
tween England and Scotland; and to correct by punish- 
ment of persons or distress of goods for the preservation 
of the truce and the safety of the borders; he was em- 
powered to levy all sums incurred by breach of ordinances 
by officers, and to chastise and punish those who refuse 
to obey and to certify them to the queen and Privy 

I* Cary's Memoirs, p. 88; "Services and Charges of Lord Grey 
of Wilton," Camden Soc. Pub., Vol. 40, Appendix, p. 53. 



26 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

Council if they still refuse obedience; and to search out 
and punish traitors; he was to determine all pleas, plaints 
and debates according to the custom of the marches ; was 
to set and appoint watchmen to give notice of raids from 
the enemies and others, to explore and give notice of raids 
at the cost of her liege subjects (in those parts). For 
the safety of Berwick and Carlisle, when these castles 
shall be threatened or attacked, all fencible men between 
the ages of sixteen and sixty in the said marches were 
to be mustered, and all men at arms, armed bill-men and 
archers every of them according to state, degree or con- 
dition to be armed with competent armor, to be marshalled 
in thousands, hundreds, and twenties, to be kept so as 
to be ready to march for the defence of Carlisle or Berwick. 
Those so marshalled could be compelled to serve by im- 
prisonment or by other ways and means. The warden was 
empowered to agree upon truces from week to week, two 
weeks to two weeks, three weeks to three weeks, or from 
month and months to month and months; to better enable 
him to carry out the duties of his office he was to appoint 
two deputies or substitutes and two warden-serjeants and 
also all other officers necessary and expedient to perform 
duties that have been accustomed to be done ; and he was 
to hold office at the pleasure of the crown. For perform- 
ing all these duties he was to receive five hundred marks 
per annum, ten pounds yearly apiece for his two deputies, 
and forty shillings apiece yearly for the two warden-ser- 
jeants, to be paid semi-annually. In closing, all are com- 
manded to give Lord Hunsdon obedience. 15 

Besides this rather extensive commission it was often 
and perhaps always supplemented by special instructions. 
For example, Lord Grey was told in 1560, in addition to 
other things, that he was to obey the authority of the 
Lieutenant General, the Duke of Norfolk, who in all mar- 
is Rymer, Vol. VII, pt. i, p. 6. 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 27 

tial cases was to use the advice of the Lord Warden and 
that he was also to show favor and encouragement to all 
borderers who are disposed to take the part of Scotland 
against the French and the reverse to all who neglect it. 18 
A set of instructions, issued in 1597, indicates that the pro- 
visions of the warden's commission or of the treaties 
had been neglected. These admonitory instructions pro- 
vided that monthly days of truce should be held; that the 
warden could issue letters of reprisal in case of default 
of the Scotch warden; that the warden was to prosecute 
English thieves in Scotland and to agree with the Scotch 
warden to punish Scots harboring English march traitors; 
at each day of truce redress was to be demanded against 
murderers, burners of houses, perjurers, and those "thrice 
fyled" (or foul). 17 The warden was to do his best to 
fyle 18 on honor, the Scotch warden doing the like ; to make 
no delivery except on days of truce on receiving the like ; 
to seize the goods and flocks of Scotsmen stafherded within 
the marches and forfeited by the treaties; to punish re- 
ceivers of Scotsmen or those who have Scotch servants; 
to keep a warden court half yearly or oftener if need be; 
to account yearly to the auditor and receiver at Newcastle 
of escheats for march treason. Challenge was not to be 
denied to anyone accused of march treason nor were any 
such to be released without the queen 's pardon or warrant ; 
if any should escape, his jailer and warden-serjeant were 
to be responsible ; and, finally, the warden was to be 
anually sworn to perform these duties at open assizes, 
and four fit gentlemen of the wardenry were to be joined 
in council with the warden. 19 Sometimes secret instruc- 

laCott. Ms., Calig. C. Ill, f. 107, et seq.; Calig. C. I, f. 153; 
Burghley Papers, Haynes, I, p. 229; C. S. P., For., 1559-1560, 
p. 359n. 

" In all these cases the punishment was death. 

is "To fyle" a bill was to declare guilty the person accused in it 
of having committed some offence. 

is C. B. P., II, 746; State Papers, Borders, XXXV, f. 157. 



28 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

tions were given to the wardens to take revenge in Scot- 
land for raids which were unpunished by the Scotch 
wardens. 20 

The wardens were expected to reside within their marches 
during the term of their commission unless the queen gave 
special permission for them to be absent. This permis- 
sion seems to have been granted very reluctantly and only 
for good cause. Lord Scrope, for example, on being ap- 
pointed Warden of the West March in 1563, found the 
Castle of Carlisle in very bad order. He was therefore 
permitted to go to his home at Bolton for twenty or 
twenty-one days until he might make proper repairs at 
Carlisle. 21 The next year the queen wrote to the Marshal 
of Berwick that the Earl of Bedford, Warden of the East 
March, might be allowed to go to Yorkshire for three 
weeks only. 22 

A few years later, Sir John Forster requested permission 
to leave his march, but Elizabeth demanded to know the 
state of the borders before permission would be granted. 23 
Lord Hunsdon, in August, 1581, desired to be relieved 
of his wardenship owing to age and the necessity of stay- 
ing at Berwick. 24 On another occasion, having come to 
London, he delayed his departure for his charge too long 
for Elizabeth's patience. Robert Cary writing to his 
father an account of his interview with her, said that 
"she grew yntoo a grete rage, begynnynge with 'God's 
wonds, that she wolde sett you by the feete, and send an- 
other yn your place if you dalyed with hyr thus for she 
wolde not be thus dalyed withall.' Robert tried to pacify 
her with explanations but, he said, she anseryed me 'that 
you have byn goynge from Crystmas to Ester, and from 

20 C. B. P., I, 245. 

2i C. S. P., For., 1563, 931. 

22 Ibid, 1564-1565, 418. 

23 C. S. P., For., 1566-1568, 1879. 

24 C. B. P., I, 102. ' ' V *•• 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 29 

Ester to Whytsontyd, but yf you dyfferde the tyme any 
longer, she wolde appoynt sume uther yn your place.' " 25 

Even a writ commanding a peer to come to Westminster 
to attend Parliament did not justify him, if he was a 
warden, in leaving his post without special permission 
from the queen. 26 

The wardens had power to appoint certain of their 
subordinate officers. In the East March, in 1596, the 
warden could appoint his deputy warden 27 and the Mar- 
shal of Berwick. 28 At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, 
however, the queen held the appointment of the deputy 
warden of the East March in her own hand and it does 
not appear that the warden himself was consulted. 29 The 
warden of the Middle March had a similar power, for both 
Sir Ralph Sadler and John Cary appointed their deputies 
on taking office. 30 Lord Hunsdon, however, in 1587, when 
he was temporarily warden of the Middle March, wrote 
twice asking the queen's permission to remove the deputy 
warden. 31 The naming of the Keeper of Harbottle Castle 
was a privilege also annexed to the Wardenship of the 
Middle March. 32 

In the West March, the deputy warden was usually 
appointed by the warden, 33 but if the queen objected to 
the person appointed, as she sometimes did, the warden 
hastened to appoint the man the queen preferred. 34 On 
one occasion Lord Scrope instead of appointing a deputy, 

25 Ellis' Original Letters, Series II, Vol. Ill, No. 220, p. 102. 

26 C. B. P., I, 263. 

27 C. B. P., II, 314; C. B. P., I, 537. 

28 Cary's Memoirs, p. 57. 

29 Sadler State Papers, I, pp. 708, 709; C. S. P., For., 1559-1560, 
160, 161. 

so Cary's Memoirs, p. 96; C. S. P., For., 1559-1560, 349. 
si C. B. P., I, 574. 

32 Ibid, 398. 

33 Ibid, 743; C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. XXXII, 88. 
s* C. B. P., II, 760, 775, 787. 



30 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

appointed a group of four gentlemen of Cumberland to 
have charge of the West March during his absence. After 
serving a few weeks, these four were to appoint another 
group of four, and so on, until the queen should decide 
whom she wished Lord Scrope to appoint as his deputy. 35 
In spite of the definiteness of some statements in the evi- 
dence, one may say that the appointments were not made 
at the discretion of the warden, but were suggested to the 
court in the form of a nomination or request, which usually 
was approved. 

The duties which took most of the time and attention 
of the wardens were the holding of the warden courts, 
which as we have just seen were the chief means by 
which they enforced their authority within the march ; the 
holding of days of truce with the opposite wardens of 
Scotland; and the making and maintaining of proper 
provisions for the defence of their marches from raids or 
invasions from Scotland. These topics will be more fully 
treated in the following chapters. 

In addition to these, it is possible to gather a long list 
of the other duties of the wardens covering all sorts of 
affairs, not only those connected primarily with their du- 
ties as military officers on the frontier, but also some 
which appear to have devolved on them as prominent 
persons of the realm that happened to be in a place where 
some piece of official work needed to be done. 

Among the warden's military duties was that of taking 
charge of the mustering of the "fencible" men spoken of 
in his commission. These musters were intended to be 
held several times each year. The warden with the gentle- 
men of his march viewed the bands and their armor, 
carefully noting any deficiencies in either number or 
equipment, and sending complete reports to the Council. 

Another duty of the same sort was the issuing of pass- 

35 ibid, 1334. 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 31 

ports or safe-conducts to Scotchmen to travel through Eng- 
land, either to London or on the way to the continent. 
These were at one time issued at London. 30 For some 
reason, however, possibly because of the trouble involved 
in sending for them over such a long distance, their issuing 
was turned over to the wardens. In the Statute 14 Eliza- 
beth, Chapter 5, it was expressly stated that this right 
was not to be interfered with. 37 The horses ridden by the 
travelers are usually described with much greater particu- 
larity than the travelers themselves, 38 probably owing to 
the constant trouble over the sale of horses to Scotland as 
indicated below. 

The issuing of "plaquets" or permits for the sale of 
English horses into Scotland was another of the warden's 
duties. It was perhaps too freely exercised or else too 
loosely controlled, for in the records are many complaints 
about the practice, together with statements that the 
Scotch would be unable to make raids without the English 
horses and that three horses out of four on the Scotch 
side were English. 39 This selling of horses into Scot- 
land was considered so grave a danger that we find several 
statutes passed with the object of preventing it. 40 

The warden also had power under his commission to 
make reprisals on Scotland for unsatisfied claims of the in- 
habitants of his march and also to issue letters of reprisal 
to despoiled tenants. 41 

The privilege of taking revenge was not an unused one, 
as appears by many references to such raids by the war- 
dens. Sometimes the provocation was great, — in one case 
four hundred claims against Scotland were lying unre- 

se C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 701, 1293. 

37 Statutes of the Kealm, IV, pt. i, p. 592. 

38 State Papers, Borders, XLI, f. 98; C. B. P., II, 1440. 

39 C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 82, 85; C. S. P., II, 368. 

40 See below, p. 55. 

4i C. B. P., I, 192, 198, 234, 555; C. B. P., II, 298, 1423, etc. 



32 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

dressed, and in another instance there had been no redress 
for injuries for fourteen years. 42 

On the other hand we find the warden using unneces- 
sary cruelty in making reprisals. For example, when John 
Cary was serving as his father's deputy in the East March, 
in 1596, some horses were taken from within the bounds 
of Berwick and he could get neither the horses nor money 
for them. He took advantage of the musters held short- 
ly after they had been stolen and made a raid into Scot- 
land to the house of one of the four thieves and cut him 
in pieces. 43 Elizabeth much regretted this affair and 
told Cary that such revenge was "verie barbarous and 
seldom used emonge the Turckes. " 44 On account of the 
international difficulties which invariably followed such 
reprisals, the wardens often found it desirable to get 
especial authority from the queen before making such 
attacks, and in one case Lord Scrope mentions as a secret 
that her majesty by Mr. Secretary had directed him, on 
any outrage being committed, to take such revenge as 
he could. 45 On another occasion Lord Scrope had made 
another raid into Scotland and had taken and hanged two 
Scotch thieves, upon which the King of Scots complained 
to the Privy Council. A little later, Lord Scrope wrote 
to Secretary Cecil concerning the King's complaint, "as 
yet we have but a leetle tickled him aboute the edges," 
and if they (the borderers) would not be quiet he did 
not mean to lie in their debt. 40 

In addition to these responsibilities connected more or 
less with their military positions, the wardens were 
charged with a number of less important duties. Some- 
times they were called upon to prevent the escape into 

42 Ibid, 520, 561; C. B. P., I, 745, 746. 

« C. B. P., II, 298; Cary's Memoirs, p. 76. 

44 C. B. P., II, 329. 

45 C. B. P., I, 156; C. B. P., II, 1191; C. B. P., I, 245. 

46 C. B. P. II, 1423. 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 33 

Scotland of malefactors or to search out those who had 
committed felony and to seize them and send them to 
the sheriff of the county in which the crime was com- 
mitted or to the Council at London. 47 

In conjunction with the receiver of the queen's lands 
in Cumberland, Lord Scrope was directed, in 1597, to 
issue distress warrants for the rents of her majesty's ten- 
ants of Brough Barony, 48 probably under his commission 
as justice of the peace. 

In another case Lord Grey, Warden of the East March, 
apparently sitting as a justice of the peace, ordered cer- 
tain disputed lands to be divided, thereby settling an 
acrimonious quarrel between two of the gentlemen of 
the Middle March, — Sir Thomas Grey of Horton and Sir 
John Forster. 49 

The wardens also performed services on behalf of the 
Court of High Commission in hunting out recusants within 
their marches as well as serving on the Commission itself. 50 
It must be confessed that their search became more ef- 
fective after a few visits from the Bishop of Durham and 
the receipt of letters from the Privy Council. In 1585, 
for example, Lord Scrope could find only two recusants 
in the West March, which at that time probably contained 
at least thirty thousand inhabitants. 51 Ten years later, 
Lord Scrope sent to Toby Matthew, Bishop of Durham, the 
names and qualities of a multitude of obstinate recusants 
in Westmorland and Cumberland. 52 The good bishop was 
much worried over the difficulty of enforcing the law, and 
urged that "the writ de excommunicato capiendo and the 

47 C. B. P., I, 740, 442. 

48 C. B. P., II, 470. 

49 C. S. P., For., 1560-1561, 735. 

so C. B. P., II, 1331; C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. 
XXVIII, 58. 

5i C. B. P., I, 313. 
52 C. B. P., II, 541. 



34 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

execution followeing hereupon maie be caused to runne as 
well in Northumb 'land, Cumberland and Westm'land as in 
the Bushoprick of Duresme & elsewhere and that not onlie 
the Sheriffs but the wardens be commanded to see the same 
executed. ' ' 53 The Statute does not appear to except the 
northern counties from its operations, so perhaps the 
trouble was due to the laxity of the sheriff in serving this 
writ and in issuing executions upon it, since we find the 
same sort of complaint against the sheriffs for not levying 
on the property of those going on the bonds of prisoners. 54 

The enforcement of the laws against seminary priests 
was also entrusted to the wardens. Thus, in 15£'3, Cary 
got hold of such a priest and asked Burghley's advice 
about what to do with him, since he had no prison but 
Haddock's Hole, a very bad place and only fit for thieves 
and murderers. 55 

A certain authority in admiralty matters appears to 
have devolved on the wardens, apparently by virtue of 
their military office. For example, in 1559, a ship was 
wrecked on the coast of Northumberland, and the Earl 
of Northumberland, Lord President of the Council at 
the North wrote to Ralph Sadler, acting warden of the 
East March, instructing him to have the goods that re- 
mained viewed and valued and to punish those who had 
stolen any of the cargo. Immediately afterwards, Lord 
Clinton laid claim to the salved cargo which he claimed 
belonged to him by virtue of his office of admiralty. 50 
A little later, the water-bailiff under Sir Ralph Grey, 
at that time Warden of the East March, meddled with a 
Scotch ship driven on shore in Bamburghshire near Ross, 

ss State Papers, Borders, XXXIV, f. 228. 

54 Cott Ms., Calig. D. I, f. 247. 

55 C. B. P., I, 916. 

so C. S. P., For., 1559-1560, 197, 201, 202. 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 35 

to which interference the Queen of Scots objects as well as 
the owners. 57 Again, in 1562, Lord Grey wrote to Cecil 
and stated that the men and townships involved had been 
assessed two hundred pounds to pay for their spoiling 
of a Scotch ship which had been wrecked near Berwick. 58 
On another occasion Lord Hunsdon wrote to the Council 
acknowledging their order to stay all ships between York- 
shire and Berwick, whereof he was Vice-admiral, but that 
he had found none worth staying except at Newcastle, 
where he had stayed all ships and mariners. He also sent 
a list of their tonnage and crews and where the men 
dwelt. 59 

The water-bailiff just spoken of appears to have been 
the constable for admiralty cases, but was also used by 
the wardens as a messenger to carry letters or the rolls 
of cases to be tried at a day of truce to the Scotch 
warden. As such the bailiff had the right of free pas- 
sage through any Scotch or English march on his way 
to the warden's residence. 00 

In addition to the foregoing duties, the wardens claimed 
certain jurisdictions which led them into various disputes 
with other authorities. The conflict of authority arising 
from the existence within the marches of independent 
lordships, such as Bewcastle, Gilsland and Norham, has 
already been mentioned. Another dispute arose over the 
right of the warden to arrest an offender who had escaped 
from his own march. In several cases, the warden-ser- 
jeant arrested a man in Durham to answer at a day of 
truce ; 61 in another instance, a man who had stolen goods 
in Scotland was arrested by the serjeant. After being 

57 Ibid, 1559-1560, 269. 

ss C. S. P., For., 1562, 288. 

59 State Papers, Borders, XXV, f. 188. 

«o C. B. P., I, 743. 

«iC. B. P., II, 1002. 



36 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

released on bond, he stole in Berwick and was indicted 
for felony, but was delivered by the mayor of Berwick 
to the deputy warden to be turned over to the Scotch 
warden for punishment. 62 On the other hand it is stated 
that the Warden of the Middle March could not arrest 
those under the government of the East March, though 
it was admitted there were contrary precedents. 03 On 
one occasion the land-serjeant of Gilsland in the West 
March arrested a notorious thief in that march and de- 
livered him to Lord Eure, Warden of the Middle March. 
This, though probably within the terms of the land-ser- 
jeant 's patent, gave rise to much protest and correspond- 
ence with Burghley on the part of Lord Scrope, who 
finally convened a warden court, tried and executed two 
of the land-serjeant 's friends and proclaimed as an out- 
law Thomas Carleton, the land-serjeant himself. 04 Lord 
Scrope claimed that Lord Eure should have made a requi- 
sition on him for the arrest of the outlaw, a claim that 
is substantiated by articles of agreement entered into be- 
tween the West and Middle Marches in 1571. 65 

It seems, therefore, that the martial law was superior 
to the civil law in cases where they came into conflict, 
but that the wardens were not to intrude upon each other 's 
jurisdictions. 

Still another difficulty arose from the appointment by 
the queen of general officers for military and other pur- 
poses in the north but who were not subject to the war- 
den's authority. As an instance of this, we find, that, 
in 1596, Sir William Selby was appointed Comptroller 
of the office of Ordnance in the North. On sending his 
deputy to view the munitions at Carlisle, Lord Scrope 
would not permit the deputy to make his inspection and 

62 Ibid. 

63 Ibid, 231. 

64 Ibid, 452, 483, 529, 530, 533, 982, etc. 
es Cott. Ms. Calig. C. Ill, f. 107. 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 37 

protested that the deputy comptroller had intruded on 
the warden's office contrary to the express words of the 
latter 's patent. 66 On another occasion Lord Hunsdon 
threatened to resign because Randolph, Elizabeth's am- 
bassador in Scotland, had interfered with his authority. 67 
Conflicts of authority between the warden as Captain of 
Berwick and the civil officers of the town also occurred 
from time to time. On one occasion for example the 
Captain complained to the mayor and freemen that they 
were compelled by their charter, among other things, to 
provide a prison and gallows for the use of the warden's 
prisoners, to keep all prisoners turned over to them by 
the Captain under a sufficient guard, to keep a pillory, to 
name six burgesses of the town within four days of Mich- 
aelmas to act as host for Scots permitted to come into the 
town by the Captain, and not to lodge Scotchmen without 
the permission of the Captain, all of which provisions 
he claimed to have been violated. 68 And in the years 
1592 to 1595, we find a record of a series of quarrels be- 
tween the warden and his officers and the corporation. 69 
Toward the end of the reign of Elizabeth, the final 
supremacy of the Protestant party in Scotland and the 
probable succession of James to the English throne seemed 
to bring about greater quietness on the marches. As a 
result of this progress toward law and order, the successive 
treaties made from time to time took more and more 
power away from the wardens. After the treaty of 1597, 
the last entered into between the kingdoms, we find con- 
stant complaints from the wardens that the justices of 
the peace are in charge of cases formerly within the 
jurisdiction of the wardens. 70 In the case of the mur- 

ee C. B. P., II, 358, 437, 439-445; cf. C. B. P., I, 764. 

6T C. S. P., For., 1572-1574, 423. 

«8Hist. Mss. Com. 12th Keport, App. pt. IV, p. 52. 

69 C. B. P. 3 II, passim. 

70 Ibid, 1101, 1152. 



•AH 



AiiTlloiMTY OF 'I III': WAKDKNH 



dor of one Rovelcy, Poi i ample, Lord Willoughby, the 
Warden of the Waal March, wrote to Cecil, laying that 
the Northumberland justices challenged hii dealingi with 
iuoh caiei and lenl them to Newcastle to undergo the 
law, and that there they Pound means oi i tcapc through 
i heir friends and allii 

Some dispute <»r this aort musl have been the occasion 
oi .i memorandum on the respective powers of the Jul 
ii'' . mI ih. peace and the wardens which was made some 
time between L5B0 and L60 ! 

< >f I lie |ii:;l i< (■:;, I In 1 1< > I « ■ ■> . ' ' 'I'lir .nil liunl h ,,| .i 

in tlce of Peace Ii directed by the Lawos of b Real me, 
and lymited wthln the bounde of the Kingdoms 

ii i. .in ordinarie, civil] l»ni q slower kinde of Jur 
i diccon 

ii i in|in i (■;. hi Treasons imi imiii noe power to punish 
i hem 

"ii. enquires of Follonios, pyottii poutts, and unlawful! 
i ernbliei but noe puniihmont can be Inflicted I » ■ 1 1 in 
open Quarter Sessions wch are to be kopl bu1 Powei tymes 
in i he j 603 • 

■'ii removes ponsossions violentlic and Poroiblic taken 
Poi the time but still wth reference to the Quarter 
lions 

■'ii rostroyncs nun Prom fighting, and Quarreling, bj 
i - 1 ■ in" the parties (that have done, or are likelie to 
doe anie of these disorders) to enter securities to Icep the 
i m •. n -« • j hi in oase they oannol Pyndo sufficient securitie 
i>\ oommil I ing i hem to prison, etc 

On the other hand the note states that "The authoritie 
i<\' the Warden li an oxtraordinarie Marshall and quiok 
power, Nii.ii upon cuatoms of the plaoe, and conaont 



n 1 1 mi. i |5fl Tito poww ni u .11 iir ii i iii 1 1 \ . i .. Involving lift 01 
.i. in, ,-. , ,i, put d . i ■ n |ji u 1508, 0. Si r . Vox , 1886 L888, B 101 , 
1408 



AIITIInlMTY OP TIIK WAMH'INU 89 

of the Princei in aondric 'r» < .1 1 1 ■ poi fchoai eauai i, Pop 

defence of oylhor Kingdom, from violence mid 1 .,! 

ihr other 11 cntoynoi not It lelf wthin the bounde of 
the Kingdom, but reo oh on bo the opposite Prontlre and 
purauoa Pol Ions will Proaho purauito Lhnro alaoe 

" Kithor Warden hath euor vied (and noe oughl to doe) 
by b Kyndo of eorroapondonco, to lend offenders wthin 
their aouorall M .1 1 i-Ihm to the other, hii opposite, upon de 
mand, in be in 1 1 Iced by him 

There are Lawei wch they call Martch bawoa. such 
.1 ii.uii in. Mi ,i;'iii-il upon by Comiaaionora authorized 
from both Prynci By theae Martch or Martial! Lawes, 
the Warden maie upon the aodaino call b court, em pan 
lull b [urie, by whom yf anie wan offending thin thi 
wardonry, bo found guiltic, yf ii bee of fellonie 01 tree 
ion, he male be forth wth executed by the Warden "'' 

The wardena won removable Prom office al the plow ur< 
of the queen and then 1 noi much doubt that the r< ig 
nations thai occurred Prom time to time nron not only 
by tin pi 1 mi Ion of the queen bul alao bj hi 1 uggi I ion 
A'. .1 ini< however, the appointment* appear to have boon 
in) life or during the proper conduol of the warden in 
in office Nir John Koratai and Lord llunadon each hold 
their warden rica Por thirty eai and the Pormei wai 
finally removed Prom office only after formal chargoa had 
been made again*! him on two occaaiona, and after he 
had been tried before b commiaaion and Pound guilty of 
in :'li."i M' 1 in office 

The complfl inta on 1 he fir ii 01 caaion , in 1 ' • '-. covei 
b long ii-' of offence* in which Poratei ia charged with 
improperly holding daya of truce, taking can oi hii <»wn 
lo ■ . to 1 he neglect of her ma (oaty'i ti nanta and ae 
cepting too amall penaltiea from the Scol , and hi I al 
accuai 'i ol aecui ing 1 he lafety of hie ow n good b ; hi 

rsstflti I'm" 1 Bordari \ LI, L046 



40 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

leniency with the Scots. He is also charged with having 
sent corn, and other supplies over the border into Scot- 
land and with permitting notorious Scotch thieves and 
murderers freely to resort to him. 73 As a result of these 
charges, his commission was suspended and Lord Hunsdon 
was appointed Warden of the Middle March. Forster 
was tried at Newcastle before a committee of the Council 
of the North. 74 He appears to have been cleared of the 
charges after his first trial and to have received back 
his wardenry. About ten years later there is another 
series of complaints from Forster 's wardenry, charging 
him with a general disregard of the border law. 75 

He was ordered by the queen to put himself under 
the charge of her officers at Durham, practically placing 
him under arrest, and was shortly afterwards removed 
from his office and his place given to Lord Eure. 76 

The latter about a year later is himself charged with 
malfeasance in office and is impeached by jurors on four 
charges. 77 He asked for a trial before the queen and 
council, 78 but the matter was left to Sir William Bowes 
and the Bishop of Durham. 79 Edward Grey of Chilling- 
ham, one of the deputy wardens, was appointed acting 
warden, pending the settlement of the charges against 
Lord Eure. The latter appears to have resigned as a re- 
sult of the charges against him, although there is no defi- 
nite statement of his guilt. 80 

In addition to the interference with the duties of the 

"State Papers, Borders, XXV, ff. 163, 164, etc.; Cott. Ms. 
Calig. C. IX, f. 315; C. B. P., I, 452, 453, 454, 455, 475, 493, 
494, 534, 546, 494, etc. 

t* Ibid, 501. 

75 C. B. P., II, 211. 

78 Ibid, 197, 206. 

77 Ibid, 638, 652, 756. 

78 Ibid, 702, 762, 763, 764, 854. 
70 Ibid, 721. 

so Ibid, 702, 772, 792, 854. 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 41 

wardens arising from conflicts of authority within the 
marches, they were often subjected to interference in their 
offices by the Privy Council, and by the Council of the 
North. 

The Privy Council interfered only spasmodically with 
the wardens and most of its interference appears to have 
taken the form of advice or suggestion. Early in 1559, 
for example, the Council wrote to the Earl of Northum- 
berland, Warden of the East and Middle Marches, re- 
gretting the decay as reported in the muster roll and 
suggesting that he should get together a garrison in truth 
at Berwick. 81 The results of all musters in the marches 
were sent to the Privy Council, which considered them 
and usually inquired of the wardens the reasons for any 
default in the numbers of properly armed men. 82 

At other times, the Council sent notice to the wardens 
telling them how they should treat fugitives from Scot- 
land, 83 or perhaps approving the request of a warden for 
the temporary loan of troops from Berwick or from one 
of the other marches. 84 

Sometimes, however, there was more direct interference 
with the warden. It is probable that in these cases the 
Council merely took cognizance of a complaint that had 
been addressed to Burghley or perhaps even to the queen. 
For instance, in 1583, the brother and wife of Arthur 
Graeme begged the Council for redress for his murder 
by Thomas Musgrave. Other complaints follow and finally 
the Council sent a letter to Lord Scrope, directing him 
to take action. S5 On another occasion the Council wrote 

si A. P. C, 1558-1570, p. 39. 

82 Ibid, p. 16; C. S. P., For., 1575-1577, 128; C. B. P., I, 15, 
26, 42, 43, etc. 
ss Ibid, 118, 267. 

84 A. P. C, 1558-1570, pp. 16, 23; C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 
104, 230; C. B. P., I, 152, 215, 486, 519, etc. 

85 Ibid, 157, 161. 



42 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

to Lord Scrope, disapproving of his securing the repair 
of castles and houses on the border by executing the penal 
statutes, as that would be odious to the inhabitants. The 
Council preferred to have the matter arranged by a com- 
mission. 86 Sometimes no redress for spoil or murder on 
the marches was had for a long time. In one such case 
the Privy Council directed the wardens to meet for the 
redress of the most recent grievances, leaving those of 
former years to be settled by a commission. 87 

The Council often interfered with what Avere appar- 
ently very trivial matters. The Privy Council in Star 
Chamber, June 10, 1586, ordered Lord Scrope to settle a 
dispute concerning some land between David Hinderson 
of Malfarnes and Thomas Carleton. 88 A year or so later, 
the Council ordered "a letter to Lord Scrope, Warden 
of the Mydle Marshes praying his Lordship to examine 
a cause betweene William Wyngfeild, an aged poore man, 
and John Smithe for 2 acres of land, and to take suche 
order that the said Wyngfeild maie be continued in the 
quiett possession until he maie be evycted by due course 
of lawe. " 89 A few months afterwards the Council sent 
another letter to Scrope ordering him to redress the steal- 
ing of some cattle. 90 

There is the possibility that this interference in the less 
important matters was due to the fact that the wardens 
constantly wrote to Lord Burghley or to Walsingham or 
Cecil for advice, thus giving opportunity for such in- 
terference. 91 

so Ibid, 152. 

87 Ibid, 151, 272; A. P. C, 1597, p. 4. 

88 A. P. C, 1586-1587, p. 145. 

89 A. P. C, 1587-1588, p. 163. 

90 Ibid, p. 275. On one occasion the Council ordered Lord Eure to 
secure the appearance of certain malefactors before them in Star 
Chamber. A. P. C, 1595-1596, p. 98. 

9i C. S. P., For., 1572-1574, 292; C. B. P., I, 235, 673; C. 
B. P., II, 1089, 1116, 1442, etc. 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 43 

For example, in 1584, Lord Scrope took four Scotch 
thieves and in a letter to Walsingham, begs to have the 
disposal of them, left to himself, which, he says, will be 
to good purpose. 

On another occasion certain Rutherfords petitioned 
Sir Robert Cary to release a pledge, the bills for which 
he was held as surety having been satisfied. Cary there- 
upon wrote to the Council begging them not to interfere 
but to permit him to manage the affair himself. 

According to a new order for the Council of the North 
adopted in 1560, it was to be composed of all the uoble- 
men in the North. This is limited by the further state- 
ment that there is to be one from each Riding of York 
and one each from Durham, Cumberland, Westmorland 
and Northumberland. It was to have a President, Vice- 
President and two members learned in the law. The 
President or Vice-President and three others, of whom one 
of the men learned in the law was to be one, were to be 
of the quorum. The Council was to hold four sittings 
yearly, of which one was in Westmorland and Cumberland 
or else in Northumberland. 92 It was not necessary to have 
sessions both at Carlisle and Newcastle the same year. 93 
The wardens were generally included in the Commission, 94 
or were added to the Council after their appointment. 95 

The Council of the North had two duties in the marches. 
First, it sat as an assize court yearly at either Carlisle 
or at Newcastle and so can be considered as part of the 
ordinary government of the northern counties. 96 In ad- 

92 C. S. P., For., 1560-1561, 705. 

93 Ibid, 1561-1562, 145. 

94 A. P. C, 1558-1570, p. 27; C. S. P., For., 1560-1561, 905. 

95 C. B. P., I, 974. 

00 C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 66. No attorney was to receive 
more than 16d. nor any counsellor more than 40d. in any one 
sitting for any one matter depending before the Lord Presi- 
dent and Council. C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1566-1579, Eliz. 
XIV. 42. 



44 AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 

dition to this it acted with something like the powers of 
a grand jury over the martial administration of the Bor- 
ders, inspecting and inquiring about the defences of the 
marches and their decay and making reports thereof from 
time to time to the queen and Privy Council. 97 

The President of the Council in the North was usually 
also the Lord Lieutenant for the Northern Counties ° 8 and 
as such the immediate military superior of the wardens, 
who were in all things to obey him." It was through 
its president that the Council chiefly acted in border af- 
fairs either in making investigation as directed by Privy 
Council, or in advising the latter from time to time of the 
condition of the marches. 1 For example, in 1580, the 
Earl of Huntingdon wrote to the Privy Council, stating 
that the decay of horsemen on the Borders was most plain ; 
that nothing had been done by way of improvement, that 
the difficulty was caused by leases by her majesty and 
others to persons who look only to profit, breeding cattle 
and not horses, and finally he recommended that a com- 
mission be appointed to divide the debatable ground and 
to examine the laws of the Borders. 2 In other cases the 
President of the Council called the wardens before him 
to consider the evil administration of the marches and 
to devise a remedy. 3 

Through his office as Lord Lieutenant, the President 
of the Council of the North had still other authority over 
the wardens, 4 which, however, does not appear to have 
been exercised without special direction from the queen 

97 C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 66; C. B. P., II, 97. 
as C. S. P., For., 1560-1561, 905; C. B. P., I, 565; C. B. P., 
II, 163. 

99 Burghley Papers, Haynes, I, p. 229. 

iC. B. P., I, 893, 398; C. B. P., II, 97, 163. 

2C. S. P., For., 1560-1561, 474; C. B. P., I, 74. 

3 Ibid, 893. 

4 Ibid, 89, 493, 500. 



AUTHORITY OF THE WARDENS 45 

or Council both to the lieutenant and to the wardens. 5 
Sometimes even when such direction had been given, the 
wardens were averse to serving under the Lord Lieutenant 
and resisted to the point of insubordination. Thus, in 
1587, when relations with Scotland were in a critical state 
by reason of the execution of Mary, Lord Hunsdon wrote 
to Burghley, saying, "I Perceve yt ys a grete matter too 
be an Erie," and continues his letter by stating his 
willingness to lie on the Borders with twenty or thirty 
men at his own charges, but that he will go to prison be- 
fore he will serve under Huntingdon, 6 who at that time 
was Lord Lieutenant of the North. On the shoulders of 
the Council of the North fell also the task of providing 
auxiliary militia for border service when on account of 
the decay in the marches and threatened invasion from 
Scotland such precaution became necessary. 7 

Finally it was the duty of the President of the Council 
of the North acting as the Lord Lieutenant to see that 
the wardens were properly inducted into office, to turn 
over the court rolls, copies of treaties and other records 
to the new incumbent, 8 and to act as a court for the in- 
vestigation of complaints against the warden. The Earl 
of Huntingdon had the latter duty in the case of Sir 
John Forster in 1586 and in 1595. 9 

The President of the Council of the North was also 
given power to appoint a vice-warden in the absence of 
the warden, but that power seems never to have been 
exercised. 10 

s Ibid, 565, 5G9, 539. This authority did not extend, however, 
to dealings with the Scots. C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1566-1579, 
Eliz. XV, 80. 

e C. B. P., I, 572. 

Tlbid, 556, 539; C. B. P., II, 196. 

s Ibid, 163. 

»C. B. P., I, 451; C. B. P., II, 163, 197. 

io Burghley Papers, Haynes, I, p. 229. 



CHAPTER IV 

BORDER LAW 

The law which the wardens enforced in their dealings 
with disorders in the marches included, besides the au- 
thority and directions contained in their commissions and 
instructions, the treaties with Scotland concerning border 
matters, and statutes made from time to time which ap- 
plied to the northern counties. To these we may add cer- 
tain old customs of the marches and agreements arrived 
at from time to time by the wardens with the gentlemen 
of their marches concerning new offences. 1 

There seems to be record of at least four treaties be- 
tween Elizabeth and the sovereigns of Scotland over bor- 
der affairs. 2 The records bearing on the subject are some- 
what confused, so that it is impossible to say with certainty 
that there were no others. 

Steps toward the first were taken shortly after the sign- 
ing of the treaty between England and Scotland which 
had been made in accordance with the peace of Cateau 
Cambresis. 3 Commissioners were appointed whe met at 
Lady Kirke in Scotland, in September, 1559, and agreed 
upon articles for a treaty concerning border affairs. 4 

Again, on August 4, 1563, Henry, Lord Scrope and Sir 
John Forster were commissioned to treat with Scotch 

i C. B. P., I, 130. 

2 Ibid, 778; State Papers, Borders, XLI, ff. 238-253; C. B. P., II, 
622. 

3C. S. P., For., 1560-1561, 326. 

* Sadler State Papers, I, pp. 457-459; C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 
821, 1359. 

46 



BORDER LAW 47 

commissioners regarding border affairs, 5 and a new treaty 
was signed September 23, 1563. 6 

Another treaty was made in 1586, which included the 
formation of an offensive and defensive alliance between 
England and Scotland, and touched upon border matters. 
The commission was issued to the Earl of Rutland, Lord 
Eure, Mr. Thomas Randolph, and the three wardens, May 
31, 1586, 7 and the treaty was signed July 5, 1586. 8 An- 
other treaty is mentioned as having been made the follow- 
ing year, 9 and still another under thirty-six heads was 
negotiated in 1597. 10 

Ancient treaties for the borders are sometimes referred 
to as being still in force, although war may have broken 
out and peace again been declared in the meantime. 
Elizabeth, for example, in 1582, wrote to Lord Cesford, a 
Scotch warden, telling him that the treaty, made and 
agreed upon in the fifth year of Edward VI, ought to be 
put in practice. 11 

The occasion for these treaties was the weakness or 
total failure of border administration, which led to the ap- 
pointment of commissioners with fuller authority than 
the wardens, whose duty it was to settle by treaty such 
matters as the wardens had for any reason been unable to 
adjust. In addition, the provisions of former treaties 
were reiterated and new provisions to fit new offences 
were included. 

The treaty of 1563, after arranging for the redress of 
complaints which the wardens had not settled, provided 

5C. S. P., For., 1563, 1103. 
e Ibid, 1238. 

7 A. P. C, 1586-1587, pp. 135-136. 
sRymer, VI, pt. iv, p. 187. 

9 C. B. P., I, 778. This may be the treaty of 1586. 
io C. B. P., II, 622. Not 1596, as stated'in Hodgson's "The War- 
dens of the Northern Marches." 
ii C. B. P., I, 130. 



48 BORDER LAW 

that the warden himself and not his deputy should hold a 
day of truce at least once a month; that they should not 
redress value for value or bill for bill, but for all offences 
complained of; that the wardens should, at the first day 
of truce after the date of the treaty, take, in the presence 
of the opposite warden, a solemn oath to execute his office 
fully and without partiality. He was to renew the oath 
yearly at mid-summer, and a similar oath was to be taken 
by all who were called to assist the wardens. The wardens 
were to inquire for and to deliver offenders and to 'file' 
bills upon their honor or by the oaths of six of their own 
wardenry to be named by the opposite warden. Every 
one was allowed to follow his lawful trod with hound and 
horn, hue and cry and the accustomed manner of fresh 
pursuit. The trial of offenders might be made by a law- 
ful assize at the choice of the complainant. Bonds were 
to be taken of every lord, owner, possessor or bailiff within 
their wardenries that they should bring any of their ac- 
cused tenants before the wardens at the day of truce to 
answer for their offences ; if they neglected to so bring the 
tenants to the meeting, the lord or possessor or bailiff was to 
be punished in place of his tenant, except that he should 
not suffer death. Requisitions from the opposite warden 
for fugitives were to be honored, and proclamation made 
of the fugitives throughout the three marches for six days. 
If after that time any should aid the fugitive, the former 
was to suffer the punishment unless he was able to find 
and bring the latter to the warden. The goods the fugitive 
had with him went to the warden of the march where he 
was caught if the warden delivered the fugitive to his 
opposite. If the fugitive was not delivered, then the goods 
in his possession w T ere to go to the warden of the march 
from which he fled. 

"Warners of fugitives were to lose their goods and to 
be imprisoned for one year, or to suffer death if both the 



BORDER. LAW 49 

English and Scotch wardens thought it proper to inflict 
that punishment. 

If a person of one country went into the other and 
raised a riot and was seized, he was to be treated as a 
subject of the realm into which he entered. If he escaped 
seizure and returned to his own country he was to be ac- 
cused, and if found guilty was to be delivered to the 
offended warden. 

The wardens were permitted to follow offenders into 
the opposite realm until they should be taken. Any one 
interfering with such pursuit might be complained of. 
The pursuer, however, was to give notice of the occasion 
of his pursuit to the first person he met and to require his 
assistance. Any injury or harm resulting from such pur- 
suit was to be punished by a jury of twelve men of the 
country of the one complained of, to be named by the 
opposite warden. 

The value of cattle was set down at a fixed price to 
prevent perjury by either the aggrieved or accused 
party. 12 If any one should sow corn in the opposite realm, 
he was to forfeit his corn to the complainant, to pay four 
times the value of it as a fine and to endure three months 
imprisonment. The warden or owner of the ground was 
permitted to have for his own use all cattle belonging to 
the opposite nation and pastured on his march for six 
hours; the offence was to be proven by the testimony of 
four witnesses. If, however, the cattle remained for less 
than six hours a fine was inflicted. 

Any offender found guilty was to be delivered at the day 
of truce and if he fled he was to be punished by death as the 
breaker of the assurance. If any offender refused to pay 

i 2 Every ox above four years old was valued at forty shillings; 
every cow above four years old, thirty shillings; an ox or a cow 
between two and four years old, twenty shillings; an old sheep at 
six shillings and a sheep-hog at three shillings and other animals 
in the same proportion. State Papers, Borders, XLI, f. 238. 



50 BORDER LAW 

his promised ransom or, failing to pay, refused to reenter 
as a lawful prisoner he was to be punished according to 
March Law. A book of the treaties was to be made and 
published each year at the first day of truce after mid-sum- 
mer (June 24). A proposition was also made to divide 
the debatable ground in the East and Middle Marches, 
and finally, it was provided that all the wardens should 
use one uniform manner and order of proceeding. 13 

In the memorandum of the Treaty of 1586, 14 besides 
the provisions for an offensive and defensive alliance be- 
tween the two realms, there is a provision that all former 
treaties are to remain in force, although they may seem 
to have grown out of use. The only new matters con- 
nected with the border affairs concerned the action to be 
taken in case an Englishman was murdered in Scotland; 
whether a letter of a Scotchman accusing another Scotch- 
man was as good as an advowry, 15 and such minor details 
of procedure. 16 

The treaty of 1597 contained nothing new regarding 
border matters, excepting a clause providing for the more 
severe punishment of blackmailing, both of the giver and 
receiver. 17 The work of the commission that negotiated 
this treaty was confined chiefly to the settling of an ac- 
cumulation of unadjusted disputes between the wardens 

is Ibid; Rymer, VI, pt. iv, pp, 120-122. 

i* The date in the State Papers is 1585, but it does not seem pos- 
sible for this to be correct. There is no other reference to a treaty 
in this year. In State Papers, Borders, XXVII, f. 193, there is a 
list of treaties in which the treaty of alliance is stated to have been 
made in 1586, and the treaty of March Law in 1587. 

is By march customs, a Scot might openly avow on a day ot 
truce that another Scot had committed a crime of which he was 
charged by an Englishman. This was called an advowry. Owing 
to the feuds caused thereby, the custom was supplanted by that of 
the warden filing on his honor, after making secret inquiry. C. B. 
P., II, 494; C. B. P., I, 171. 

16 State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543. 

it C. B. P., II, 622; Rymer, VI, pt. iv, p. 185. 



BORDER LAW 51 

of the two kingdoms, most of them involving questions 
of murder. The treaty further provided that old com- 
plaints not brought before the commission should be put 
to oblivion. 18 

In the treaties made before Elizabeth's time, the pro- 
visions of which were continued by the later treaties, are 
articles which give a further idea of the sort of offences 
which were common in the borders. For example, mur- 
derers, thieves, and other offenders fleeing into the op- 
posite kingdom, were not to be received but were to be de- 
livered in ten days after requisition was made. Mur- 
derers were to be brought to the day of truce to be tried 
and on conviction were to be delivered to the complaining 
warden and executed; 19 the damage of a wound was to be 
assessed by twelve gentlemen of England and Scotland, 
and the giver of the wound was to be delivered to the com- 
plaining warden to be imprisoned until he paid double 
damages ; 20 the receiver of many wounds was to be recom- 
pensed in the same way and the offender was besides to 
suffer six months' imprisonment. A like arrangement was 
made for the assessment of damages growing out of 
the burning of houses, or hay or corn in stacks, except 
that the offender was to pay all the damages with double 
and sawfey. 21 Baughling or raising a disturbance at days 
of truce was to be punished by one month's imprisonment. 
The valuing of stolen cattle at too high a rate was to be 
corrected by an assize. 22 Owners of land could impound 
Scotchmen's cattle pasturing there until the owners of the 
cattle paid a penny sterling for every nolt and a penny 
Scotch (an English farthing) for every sheep. For the 

is C. B. P., II, 1101, 1137. 

is State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543 ; Treaty of Henry VII. 

20 Treaty of Henry VII; Treaty of Queen Mary. 

21 "With sawfey" meant triple damage. Simple damage was once 
the value; double, was twice the value; sawfey increased the fine 
once again by the amount of damage. C. B. P., II, 1310. 

22 State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543. 



52 BORDER LAW 

second offence the fine was to be doubled, and tripled for 
the third, and so on till it became two shillings for a nolt 
and six-pence for a sheep, whereupon the amount of the 
fine went back to the original figure, and the progressive 
raising of it went forward again. 23 Hunting in the op- 
posite march was forbidden without the consent of the 
owner, 24 nor was timber to be cut without similar per- 
mission, 25 though later this permission seems to have been 
granted by the warden. 26 

If the warden was unable to deliver an offender, another 
person that the warden considered sufficient for the dam- 
ages claimed was to be delivered. For the third offence 
against any of the provisions of the treaty the offender 
was to lose his life, providing the second offence was com- 
mitted after his conviction for the first, and the third after 
his conviction for the second. 27 In connection with the 
treaties, it is of some interest to find that an undated 
paper of the time of Elizabeth gives as one of the causes 
of border troubles the fact that the treaties were not un- 
derstood because they were written in Latin. 28 

The treaties do not, however, give an altogether clear 
idea of the actual practice with respect to the punishment 
of offences. It frequently happened that a warden would 
make an agreement with his opposite warden to adopt a 
procedure which was either at variance with, or not or- 
dered by the provisions of a treaty. For example, in 
1561, Lord Dacre, Lord Warden of the West March of 
England, agreed with Sir John Maxwell, Lord Warden of 
the West March of Scotland, to redress for twenty bills, 
all to be made of the value of twenty pounds, and to de- 

23 State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543 ; Treaty of Queen Mary. 

24 Treaty of Queen Mary ; Treaty of Edward IV. 

25 Treaty of Edward IV; Treaty of Henry VIII. 
26Cary's Memoirs, pp. 110-111; C. B. P., II, 988. 

27 State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543. 

28 Cott. Ms., Calig. D. I, f. 247. 



BORDER LAW 53 

liver single value for all raids made before September 20, 
1560, and triple value for all made since that date. 29 
Again, in 1593, Lord Scrope asked Lord Maxwell if they 
should enter into a thorough redress or make a selection 
and cast the rest to oblivion. 30 The treaties, however, 
provided that all offences should be punished and they 
do not provide a choice of punishments to be determined 
by the chronological order of the offences. After the di- 
vision of the Debatable Lands, the dwellers there con- 
stantly shifted their allegiance from one country to the 
other in order to escape punishment. If the Scotch war- 
den was active they were Englishmen; if the English 
warden pursued them, they claimed to be subjects of 
Scotland. In 1573, therefore, Lord Scrope and Lord 
Herries agreed to try to settle the trouble by each hold- 
ing court the same day in the late Debatable Lands in the 
name of their respective sovereigns. 31 No method of de- 
termining the allegiance of the Graemes was provided 
either in the treaties or the instructions of the wardens 
and this step must have been taken upon the warden's 
general authority. 

There are not to be found among the statutes many 
which relate particularly and solely to border administra- 
tion. 

Neither Elizabeth or her predecessors had ever been 
granted by parliament any right to appoint wardens nor 
to clothe them with such extensive powers as we find them 
to have. It is easy, therefore, to accept the statement of 
Lord Eure to Burghley that the border laws were derived 
from the accustomed laws of a camp 32 and to look for 
their justification in the fact that the wardens were mili- 
tary rather than civil officers. 

29 C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 431. 
ao C. B. P., I, 885. 
3i C. S. P., For., 1572-1574, 866. 
32 C. B. P., II, 469. 



54 BORDER LAW 

From time to time, however, statutes were passed by 
parliament which applied either specifically or by impli- 
cation to the three northern counties. On the other 
hand, in some cases the border counties are especially ex- 
empted from the operation of the law. 

It has been impossible exactly to determine whether 
these laws were always, as they certainly were in some 
instances, enforced by the wardens rather than by the 
civil authority. 

One of the earliest laws applying to the marches of 
which there is record is that of Richard II, Chapter 16, 
which provided that no armor or victuals or other re- 
freshment should pass into Scotland without license of 
the king on pain of forfeiture thereof, one-third of which 
was to go to the informer. 33 

From another statute, passed in the reign of Henry 
VI, 34 it appears that the wardens had been unduly ex- 
tending their authority. The law states that attachments 
by the warden had been unduly extended out of the coun- 
ties of York, Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmor- 
land, and provided that resistance to such attachments 
was lawful, that the' parties aggrieved should have triple 
damages and that the defendant was to suffer two years' 
imprisonment and to pay a fine of one hundred shillings 
to the king. Furthermore, Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs 
and Stewards of Leets might enquire thereof. 35 

The troubles of the wardens were doubtless much in- 
creased by the facility with which munitions, food supplies 
and other contraband could be carried across the border 
into or from Scotland under the guise of ordinary com- 
merce. With the object of regulating the traffic an act 
was passed in the reign of Edward IV, 38 having for its 

33 Statutes of the Realm, II, p. 35. 
3*31 Henry VI, Chapter 3. 

35 Statutes of the Realm, II, p. 363. 

36 22 Edward IV 3 Chapter 8. 



BORDER LAW 55 

title "An Act for the Safety of Berwick and the 
Marches." This provided that all merchandise passing 
from Scotland and the Isles to England, Ireland and 
Wales or vice versa was to be customed at either Berwick 
or Carlisle. 37 In 1576, it was ordered that this act be 
proclaimed on the borders and searchers put on the fron- 
tiers, 38 and as late as 1602, the wardens were given espe- 
cial command to enforce it. 39 

The statute 7 Henry VII, Chapter 6, provided that 
Scotchmen were to be driven out of England within forty 
days after proclamation on pain of forfeiture of goods and 
chattels and imprisonment of their persons. Constables 
who refused or neglected to enforce this statute were to 
be fined twenty shillings. 40 

In the time of Henry VIII, two acts were passed for- 
bidding the export of horses into Scotland under penalty 
of the forfeiture of the value of the horse, the informer 
to get one-half. The wardens and justices of the peace 
were given authority to enquire into and punish offences 
against the act. 41 This act seems to have been repealed 
by the general terms of acts passed in the reigns of Ed- 
ward VI, and Philip and Mary, but was reenacted by 1 
Elizabeth, Chapter 7, and the enforcement of it turned 
over to warden courts and to the justices of the peace in 
quarter sessions. 42 Incident to this act we find an ex- 
ample of how the statutes were made known to the inhab- 
itants of the marches. On May 14, 1559, an allowance 
was granted to "Rich. Jugge and John Cawode," printers 
to the queen, for printing five hundred proclamations of 

37 Statutes of the Realm, II, p. 475. 
ss C. S. P., For., 1575-1577, 930. 
39 C. B. P., II, 1545. 

«> Statutes of the Realm, II, p. 553; C. B. P., II, 213. 
4123 Henry VIII, C. 16; 32 Henry VIII, C. 6; Statutes of the 
Realm, III, pp. 380, 751. 
« Ibid, IV, pt. i, p. 367. 



56 BORDER LAW 

the Act of Parliament to revive the statute of 23 Henry 
VIII, touching the conveyance of horses, etc., in Scot- 
land. 43 

The statute 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, Chapter 1, pro- 
vided for a commission to enquire into the decay of the 
castles, towers, and other defences of the borders. These 
commissioners were either to be residents, or else free- 
holders having land worth forty pounds per year within 
twenty miles of Scotland. If not residing within this 
limit they had to be learned in the law. They had to take 
oath to well and truly perform their duty and were sub- 
ject to a penalty of forty pounds if they served illegally. 
They were commissioned under the great seal, but if any 
of the liberties and possessions of the Duchy of Lancaster 
or of the Bishopric of Durham came within the survey of 
the commissioners, other commissions were to be issued 
under the seal of the Duchy and of the County Palatine 
of Durham. If the officers of the Duchy or County Pala- 
tine refused to issue a commission within six days, then 
the commissioners could proceed within the Duchy or 
County with their commission under the great seal. 

The commission had power to compel the attendance of 
witnesses through sheriffs, bailiffs and other officers. As 
a result of the testimony of these witnesses the commis- 
sion could order repairs made, fields enclosed, fords de- 
stroyed, and in general could take such steps as they 
thought necessary to provide for the proper defence of 
the borders within twenty miles of Scotland. The decrees 
made by the commissioners were to be certified into chan- 
cery and when they received the royal assent, would 
have the force of law but not unless so certified. They 
were not to be altered except by act of parliament. In 
order to enforce their decrees the commissioners could im- 

« C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 678. 



BORDER LAW 57 

pose any reasonable fines and amercements. The penalties 
inflicted for disobedience were to be applied to the pur- 
poses of the act. The commissioners were not to sell or let 
land except in cases where it had been forfeited. No fees 
were to be charged for the issuing of the commission and 
it was to continue for seven years unless suspended. 4 * 

The statute 23 Elizabeth, Chapter 4, was a further 
attempt to remedy the condition of the border defences. 
It authorized a commission to inquire into the decays on 
the border, similar to that authorized by 2 and 3 Philip 
and Mary, Chapter 1, and provided that the charges for 
making the proper repairs should be levied on the owners 
anywhere in the realm, and that those on the queen's lands 
should be paid by the receiver of the county. If the un- 
der-tenant was at fault in allowing a place to decay con- 
trary to his lease the cost of repairs had to be borne by 
him. A method for the renewal of the covenant for bor- 
der service 45 was provided for in cases where it had been 
allowed to fall into disuse. All future lessees of lands 
were to be resident within their leaseholds, but lords were 
not to be interfered with if the tenant was furnished. 
The statute was to continue for the term of her majesty's 
life, and that of 2 and 3 Philip and Mary, Chapter 1, was 
extended for twenty years and then to the end of the 
parliament next ensuing. 46 Sir John Forster writing to 

44 Statutes of the Realm, IV, pt. i, pp. 266-269. 

45 "All the inhabitants of the Borders are bownd wthout taking 
any wages to assemble at the W. or his deputyes call for the re- 
sistance of invasion of the enemies though the assemblie dure XX 
dayes at one time. They are bownd to mayntayn watches as well 
by day as by night, . . . They are bownd to mayntayne the Be- 
con lites for anempst Scotland & the sea coastes; . . . They 
are all bownd to ride wth the L. Warden or his Deputye 2 or 3 
times in the yeare not tarying in Scotland over one day & 2 nights 
going & coming at theyr owne expences." State Papers, Borders, 
XX, 76. 

46 Statutes of the Realm, IV, pt. i, p. 663, et seq. 



58 BORDER LAW 

Burghley in 1592, answered Burghley 's question as to 
what had been done under this statute by saying that he 
remembered only one commission which was to inquire 
into decay but that it had done very little and that 
many gentlemen had since laid towns waste to make 
demesnes. 47 

Still another statute which was made use of for border 
purposes was that of 35 Elizabeth, Chapter 4, 4S which 
provided for the collection of a sum of money from 
each parish for the relief of poor soldiers. Shortly after the 
passage of this act, Lord Scrope wrote to Burghley with a 
proposition for paying Sir Henry Leigh as Keeper of 
Brough Barony without expense to the queen. He sug- 
gested using the money collected for hurt soldiers and 
mariners, of which there were few chargeable on Cum- 
berland and Westmorland, to pay the expenses of twenty 
or thirty horse at Rockcliff Castle during the winter sea- 
son. 49 

The giving and receiving of blackmail was an offence 
which the wardens strove earnestly to prevent. As far 
back as 1559, Sir Ralph Sadler wrote to Sir William Cecil 
that in the last wars he heard what he had never heard 
before, that to be assured from spoil the English borderers 
pay the Scotch certain tributes. 50 This custom was to be 
restrained, according to a note of 1568, by proclamation. 
The remedy was, however, ineffectual and the situation 
seems to have become worse 51 until it was stated that it 
would be better for the borders to pay six subsidies in a 
year than to pay this unlawful tax. 52 In 1601, Lord 
Scrope agreed with the gentlemen of his wardenry to pun- 

47 C. B. P., I, 786. 

48 Statutes of the Realm, IV, pt. ii, p. 847. 

49 C. B. P., I, 882, 954. 

so C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 1339; Sadler State Papers, II, p. 16. 
si C. S. P., For., 1566-1568, 2133; C. B. P., II, 119. 
52 Ibid, 431. 



BORDER LAW 59 

ish blackmailing, 53 and, finally, by the statute of 43 
Elizabeth, Chapter 13, taking or paying blackmail, carry- 
ing or detaining a person against his will or aiding or 
abetting therein, or burning stacks of corn, were made 
felonies without benefit of clergy. The new law was to be 
proclaimed by the sheriffs at Carlisle, Penrith and Cock- 
ermouth in Cumberland ; at Appleby and Kendal in West- 
morland; in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; at Morpeth, Alnwick 
and Hexham in Northumberland; at Durham, Darlington, 
Bishop Aucklands and Barnard Castle in Durham; and 
at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Mayors and other officers were 
to make like proclamations at fairs and at every six- weeks' 
market. 51 

Early in the reign of Elizabeth, subsidies appear to have 
been collected from the borders as from the other counties 
of England, 55 but in a letter written by Sir John Forster, 
in 1575, he suggests that the borderers be not charged with 
the payment of such taxes in consideration of their other 
services. 56 The suggestion was already a part of Eliza- 
beth's plan for the government of the borders, for in all 
the statutes passed during the reign of Elizabeth granting 
subsidies, and fifteenths and tenths for the augmentation 
of the royal revenues, the inhabitants of the marches, in 
return for their liability for border service, were exempted 
from the payment of the tax. 57 The wardens were also 
expressly excluded from the operation of the law of 14 
Elizabeth, Chapter 5, the act for the punishment of vaga- 
bonds, etc. This act provides for the granting of licenses 
to beg and pass from shire to shire by the justices of the 

53 ibid, 1192. 

s* Statutes of the Realm, IV, pt. ii, pp. 979-981. 

55 C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 1140. 

se Ibid, 1575-1577, 167. 

57 8 Elizabeth, C. 18; 23 Eliz., C. 15; 27 Eliz., C. 29; 29 Eliz., 
C. 8; 31 Eliz., C. 15; 35 Eliz., C. 13; 39 Eliz., C. 27; 43 Eliz., C. 
18; Statutes of the Realm, IV, pt. i, pp. 505, 684, 744; pt. ii, pp. 
778, 818, 867, 937, 991. 



60 BORDER LAW 

peace, and forbids their being granted by others, but it 
also states that the rights of the wardens of the three 
marches toward Scotland and the captains of Berwick and 
Carlisle to grant passports or safe-conducts is not to be 
interfered with. 58 

It is not clear whether the statute of 7 Edward VI, 
Chapter 65, applied to the marches or not, but if it did, it 
certainly was not enforced. This was an act for the regu- 
lation of taverns and ale houses in England, and pro- 
vided that there should be forty in London, four in New- 
castle-upon-Tyne, and not above two in any other town. 59 
The marches are not excepted from the operation of the 
statute, but in a report dated 1577, Berwick is named as 
having seventy-four, the East March one hundred thirty- 
seven and the Middle March, one hundred twenty-three. 60 
This seems to be a disproportionate number, for in a cen- 
sus taken in 1565, Berwick had but 3,511 inhabitants, 61 
and in 1570, Lord Hunsdon estimates 6,000 or 7,000 peo- 
ple to be in the town. 62 Other acts which spread over 
the northern counties appear not to have affected their 
military administration. 

There are several drafts of acts, however, for the better 
regulation of the borders which do not appear to have 
been made into statutes. One, for example, proposed in 
1581, provided that in order to clear ambiguities in the 
unwritten laws which vary in the several marches, twen- 
ty-eight different offences should be made march treason, of 
which four were to be punishable by death, and none of the 
twenty-eight were to have benefit of clergy. 63 Another, 
drafted in 1596, recited the fact that the inhabitants of the 

58 Statutes of the Realm, IV, pt. i, p. 592. 

59 Ibid, 169. 

eo State Papers, Borders, XX, f. 18. 
6i C. S. P., For., 1564-1565, 1232. 

62 Ibid, 1569-1571, 1153. 

63 C. B. P., I, 81. 



BORDER LAW 61 

four northern countries are freed from the payment of 
subsidies and so are bound to defend the frontier at their 
own charges; that tenants who held on low rent and 
by an ancient custom called tenant right are now decayed 
and unable, and that, on the other hand, landlords are 
laying lands in pasture in large farms and suppressing 
small holdings; that they lease their lands to Scots, and 
that they oppress their English tenants by heavy fines for 
renewals, and that some of the worst offenders are the 
queen's tenants-in-chief. The act, therefore, proposed 
that a commission should be formed, of which six were to 
be of the quorum, which was to have full power to re- 
dress all decays and defaults. 04 

With the union of the kingdoms the administration of 
the borders was rapidly simplified. Shortly after his 
accession, James issued a proclamation looking to the bet- 
ter administration of justice through the ordinary civil 
courts in what he called "The Middle Shires," and in 
1605, he issued another proclamation providing that a 
special commission of an equal number of English and 
Scotch should have power to hear and determine all bor- 
der troubles according to the laws of the marches, thus 
doing away with government by wardens. 05 Lord William 
Howard, the "Belted Will of Scott's Marmion, was 
one of these commissioners, but was not, as is sometimes 
stated, at any time a warden. 

Following this proclamation by a few years there are 
two statutes dealing with what had been the borders. 
The first, passed in 1607, provided for the general repeal 
of all acts which interfered with free traffic and communi- 
cation between the English and the Scotch; that none was 
to be prosecuted under border laws for offences committed 

e* c. B. P., II, 462. 

65 Rymer, VII, pt. ii, p. 129. 



62 BORDER LAW 

prior to the death of Elizabeth, and further provided that 
offenders should be tried by ordinary law and in their 
own country. 00 The second, passed in 1610, provided for 
the extradition of offenders to the country in which the 
crime had been committed. 67 

66 4 James I, C. 1; Statutes of the Realm, IV, pt. ii, pp. 1134- 
1137. 

07 7 James I, C. 1; Statutes of the Realm, IV, pt. ii, p. 1157. 



CHAPTER V 

DAYS OP TRUCE 

As has been previously stated, two of the chief adminis- 
trative duties of the wardens were the keeping of Days of 
Truee with their opposite wardens of Scotland, and the 
holding of Warden Courts. 

The day of truce was a day fixed by agreement between 
an English warden and the opposite warden of Scotland 
upon which the respective wardens and their followers 
met at some point at or near the boundary for mutual re- 
dress of grievances and complaints. It was the customary 
method by which satisfaction was obtained for injuries by 
subjects of the opposite realm. As its proper and or- 
derly keeping was of importance in maintaining peace on 
the borders, we find that directions concerning the fre- 
quency and manner of its holding were carefully laid down 
in the warden's commission, in the various treaties made 
from time to time with Scotland, as well as in notes made 
by the wardens of the customs of the borders with respect 
to such meetings. 1 The treaties only provided for the 
general fact of redress under certain conditions while the 
customs of the borders were followed as to the details. 

The places at which days of truce were held and which 
had been fixed upon by custom were usually in the march 
of one of the wardens holding the meeting 2 although the 
warden of the English Middle March, which adjoined and 
was in constant danger from all three Scotch marches, 
met the warden of the East March of Scotland within the 
East March of England. 

i State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543. 
2 0. B. P., II, 1292; ef. treaties. 

63 



64 DAYS OF TRUCE 

The common meeting place for the East Marches of 
England and of Scotland was at the Reddenburn or Ry- 
dingburn, a small stream that one can easily step across, 
which forms part of the boundary between England and 
Scotland and which empties into the Tweed near Wark 
Castle. 3 Sometimes, however, the meeting was held at 
Wark, on the Tweed, or at Coldstream.* The meeting 
place for the East March of England and the Middle 
March of Scotland was either at Reddenburn 5 or at Etall 
or Carham in England and at Kelso or Reddan in Scot- 
land. 6 

For the Middle March of England and the East March 
of Scotland several meeting places are mentioned. One 
was at the Reddenburn; a second place and the one most 
often used for meetings was at Staweford, 7 where Bow- 
mont Water crosses the boundary between England and 
Scotland; still another was at the Cocklaw in the Cheviot 
Hills. 8 When the wardens met at towns some distance 
within their marches as sometimes happened in the Mid- 
dle March, as it also did in the East March, the meeting 
was generally at Kirkyettan in Scotland and at Kirknew- 
ton in England. Liddesdale, in Scotland, had a keeper 
of its own who would not answer for offences through 
the Scotch wardens. The Warden of the Middle March 
met the Keeper of Liddesdale for redress at Kemels- 
peth. 9 

For the settling of complaints between the Middle March 
of England and the Middle March of Scotland, the usual 
meeting places were Kirkyettan and Kirknewton, though 

sC. S. P., For., 1569-1571, 471. 

4C. B. P., II, 993; C. S. P., For., 1564-1565, 408. 

5 Ibid, 1560-1561, 1001. 

6C. B. P., II, 1002; 1094. 

7 C. B. P., 1, 305, 702. 

8C. B. P., II, 993. 

9 C. B. P., I, 115. 



DAYS OF TRUCE 65 

sometimes meetings were held at Jedburgh, Kelso, Aln- 
wick and Hexpethgatehead. 10 

The "Warden of the West March usually met his opposite 
at Gretna Church, though a place called Tordowath is 
also named. 11 When this warden dealt with Liddlesdale, 
however, the accustomed place was at Kershope Foot 
where Kershope Burn empties into Liddel Water. 12 Lord 
Scrope once refused to meet Cesford, the Keeper of Lid- 
desdale, at Kemelspeth as that was the meeting place for 
the Middle March and was never used by him or his 
predecessors. 13 

The accumulation of offences rather than the provisions 
of treaties determined the frequency with which such days 
of truce should be held. According to the latter the days 
of truce were to be held once each month or oftener. 14 
This requirement appears, however, to have been more 
honored in the breach than in the observance, 15 and we 
find many complaints from both Scotch and English that 
the monthly meetings required by the treaties were not 
held. 

When an English warden desired to hold a day of truce 
he sent his clerk to the Scotch warden with a proposition 
to meet at certain places, one in England and one in 
Scotland, on a certain day or days. 18 The place named 
for each march was not always the same but was one of 
two or three places where such meetings were customarily 
held. 

The treaties provided that all offences should be re- 

10 C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 939; C. B. P., 421. 
ii Ibid, 106, 777; C. B. P., II, 502. 
12 C. B. P., I, 106. 

is Ibid. The more important places of meeting have been marked 
on the map. 

i* C. B. P., II, 46. 

is C. B. P., I, 676, 685. 

is C. B. P., I, 105, 765. 



66 DAYS OF TRUCE 

dressed, but in the correspondence arranging for the meet- 
ing it was customary for the two .wardens to decide 
whether all offences should be settled ; 17 or whether a Scotch 
complaint against England should be balanced by an 
English complaint against Scotland ; 18 or, finally, whether 
the value of the Scotch complaints against England should 
be balanced by an equal value of English complaints 
against Scotland. 19 The last two methods seem to have 
been the more common. Had the settlement been made as 
provided in the treaty, one or the other nation would have 
been the debtor for which hostages would have to be given. 
The answering of one bill by another is more frequent, 
since the amounts owing by the offenders of the two na- 
tions were apt to be more nearly equal, and besides the 
warden whose march had committed the fewest wrongs 
might find it necessary to consent to such an arrangement 
in order to get any redress at all. On the other hand a 
warden often objected to meeting bill with bill. For ex- 
ample, on one occasion, Lord Serope urged Burghley not 
to agree that the Scotch wardens should be permitted to 
do so, since a bill of one thousand pounds would be an- 
swered by one of twenty pounds. 20 

The arrangements for the day of truce having been 
fixed by correspondence, each warden proclaimed at sev- 
eral places within his march 21 that a day of truce would 
be held on a certain date. At the same time, a proclama- 
tion was made that all those in his wardenry who had any 
complaints to make against the Scotch should present their 
grievances to the warden or one of his Serjeants at one or 

it Ibid, 105, 499, 685, etc. 

is C. B. P., II, 1410. 

is C. B. P., I, 183. 

20 C. B. P., II, 369. 

2i State Papers, Borders, XLI, ff. 238-253, passim. 



DAYS OF TRUCE 67 

more places within the march on a day which generally 
preceded the date of the day of truce by a few weeks. 22 

These complaints were enrolled and a copy sent to the 
Scotch warden. At this point one of two methods of pro- 
cedure was followed. Sometimes the opposite warden 
after receiving the list sent back to the English warden a 
list of the bills he would answer for, apparently after hav- 
ing made inquiry and being satisfied as to the truth of 
the complaints. 23 If this method was followed, the only 
business of the day of truce was the delivery of offenders 
on both sides. The more usual method, however, was for 
the trial itself as well as the delivery of offenders to take 
place on the day of truce. 

The preliminary matters having been settled, 24 the war- 
den issued a second proclamation in the name of the 
queen to all lords, knights, esquires, gentlemen, and offi- 
cers requiring them on a certain day to attend the warden 
at his residence with a suitable number of their tenants 
and servants. All were to be mounted on their best horses 
and armed as completely as possible. The company assem- 
bled on the evening previous to the day of truce. The 
next morning the warden with his company rode to the 
march or boundary between the realms. Then the warden 
of England, having learned that the Scotch warden had 
also come to the place of meeting, sent his deputy or some 
other gentleman with others of his company to the Scotch 
warden to beg assurance for the safety of his men during 
the meeting and until sunrise of the next day. A like as- 

22 The account of the method of holding a day of truce is given 
from the English standpoint. The Scotch warden went through the 
same procedure. 

2 3 C. B. P., I, 788. 

2 * A full account of the method of procedure at a day of truce is 
given in State Papers, Borders, XLI, ff. 238-253. 



68 DAYS OF TRUCE 

surance was required by the Scotch warden from the 
English. 25 This assurance having been mutually given 
both wardens made proclamation among their attendants 
for the preservation of the peace from the time of making 
the proclamation until the next day at sunrise on pain of 
death. The English warden with his company then en- 
tered Scotland where the Scotch warden awaited his com- 
ing. After meeting and holding some conference with 
each other, the wardens withdrew somewhat apart from 
their companies and proceeded with their clerks to call 
the rolls of bills for both sides. 20 

The custom of the English warden taking the initiative 
of going into Scotland arose from the killing, in a previous 
reign, of a Scotch warden by the attendants of the Eng- 
lish warden. 27 The English wardens seem in this case to 
have made a virtue of a necessity, for on entering Scotland 
it was the custom for the warden to proclaim, "I will 
loose the Kinge [or Queen] my master no grounde. " 28 
Toward the close of the reign of Elizabeth, however, this 
custom was changed, perhaps owing to the unfortunate 
killing of Lord Russell, the son-in-law of Sir John Forster, 
in a meeting between Forster and Lord Ker of Fernihurst. 
In 1598, Robert Cary wrote to Cecil to say that the best 
English borderers said that the first meeting of the war- 
dens was always in mid-stream 29 when the boundary was 
a river or other water; and, in 1599, Sir Robert Ker and 
Willoughby cast lots to determine who should be the first 

25 The assurance of peace was understood to be for as long as 
the business should require, though nominally to last only till sun- 
rise of the following day. C. B. P., II, 283. 

2 6 State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543. A copy of a short roll of 
bills giving their general form will be found in Appendix B. 

27 C. B. P., II, 1134. 

28 Ibid, 1001. 

29 Ibid, 909. 



DAYS OF TRUCE 69 

to satisfy complaints, in which instance Willoughby won 
and Sir Robert came into England and delivered his offend- 
ers first. 30 

If any doubt arose during the calling of the bills as to 
whether those charged with offences were guilty or not, 
then the bill was to be tried either by the warden's honor, 
or by an assize of twelve gentlemen, six from England to 
be named by the Scotch warden and six from Scotland to 
be named by the English warden, or by an avower. So 
many feuds, however, arose from the latter custom that it 
was changed to a negative form. The person accused and 
four or six others could swear that he was innocent of the 
crime charged. 31 The filing on the honor of the warden 
was another effort to avoid the feuds that resulted from 
one Scot avowing that another was guilty of a crime. 
When the warden filed on his honor he was supposed to in- 
vestigate the charges when the bills were received from the 
opposite warden and to state on his honor that the person 
accused was innocent or guilty. 32 The custom seems to 
have become less and less common toward the end of Eliza- 
beth's reign, 33 and the method of trial to have taken its 
place. 

The assizers, as well as those selected to excuse bills in 
the absence of an avower, were to be sworn to render a 
true decision. The aggrieved persons were also sworn to 
make a true statement of what their goods were worth at 
the time they were taken, that they knew no other remedy 
and that the goods were all taken at one time. 34 This prac- 
tice was the occasion of much perjury. To correct this 
evil the treaty made in 1563 fixed a list of prices for 

so Ibid, 1094. 

si State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543. 

32 C. B. P., I, 676. 

33 C. B. P., II, 187. 

s* Ibid, 1090 ; State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543. 



70 DAYS OF TRUCE 

cattle which should not be exceeded in making claims for 
damages. 35 

The business of the day also included the delivery of 
offenders found guilty and the payment of damages. The 
wardens were to deliver offenders within fifteen days un- 
der penalty of ten pounds for each month they remained 
undelivered. 36 We have also seen that in case the offender 
could not be delivered it was the custom of the warden to 
deliver some one of equal responsibility in his place. 
These pledges were, in England, sent usually to York to 
be imprisoned until satisfaction was made 37 and were sup- 
ported by that portion of the Scotch march for which they 
were pledged. 38 Much trouble arose from this custom 
since there was great difficulty in securing the money, not 
only for their release but even for their support while in 
jail. 33 Furthermore, it appears that their escape from jail 
released those for whom they were bound from paying 
any damages. 40 On being bound the pledges had to be 
spoken to individually, as follows : ' ' Lard of Overton, you 
are to answer for your selfe and surname so muche" or 
else suffer penalty [of death] before the year is out. 41 

In spite of this rather elaborate provision for securing 
the punishment of alien offenders, there is much complaint 
of the ineffectiveness of the day of truce as a means of 
obtaining justice. 

One of the causes of its failure was the lack of author- 
ity of the Scotch wardens over the inhabitants of their 
marches. These had, for example, no authority over Lid- 
desdale, whose inhabitants were constantly complained of 

35 Rymer, VI, pt. iv, pp. 120-122. 

36 Nicholson's Leges Marchiaruni, p. 188. 

37 C. B. P., II, 1166; State Papers, Borders, XXXIV, f. 301. 
ss G. B. P., II, 1166, 1041. 

39 Ibid, 1416. 

40 Ibid, 1266, 1049; C. S. P., For., 1572-1574, 19. 
4i Ibid, 1045. 



DAYS OF TRUCE 71 

by the English as the worst offenders. 42 This district nomi- 
nally had a Keeper who was responsible to the King for 
its good order. Usually, however, the Keeper of Liddes- 
dale was one of the powerful Scotch border nobles that 
James could neither coax nor coerce into doing justice. 43 
Thus, Lord Scrope, in 1592, wrote to Burghley, "It maie 
please your good Lp. farder to be informed that during 
these xiiii yeares last past there hathe bene not anie re- 
dresse answered for Lyddis Dale." 44 

Another trouble which interfered with the effectiveness 
of the day of truce was the difficulty of obtaining redress 
from the Scotch wardens for offences committed prior to 
the dates of their commissions. 45 As the strength of the 
parties in Scotland shifted from time to time this became 
a serious matter to the English warden. For example, 
Scrope wrote to Cecil in January, 1600, that this frequent 
exchange of officers in Scotland prevented redress. 46 A 
similar complaint of disobedience is made by a Scotch 
warden, Lord Ker of Cesford, concerning Teviotdale or 
"Tevydale" as an excuse for not giving justice to the 
English. 47 In despair the English wardens instead of 
dealing with the Scotch wardens adopted the expedient of 
taking bonds from the chiefs of surnames not to commit 
spoilings in England. 48 

Another interference with the securing of justice at the 
meeting of the wardens was the refusal of the Scotch 
wardens to answer for injuries or murders. In some cases, 
it was claimed that this refusal was by the order of James 
to his wardens or by arrangement between the sovereigns 

42 C. B. P., I., 40, 167, 409, 676, 745, etc. 

43 C. B. P., II, 187, 1398. 

44 State Papers, Borders, XXVII, f. 106; C. S. P., Dom., Add., 
1580-1625, Eliz. XXXII, 39. 

45 C. B. P., I., 282. 

46 C. B. P., II, 1143. 

47 C. B. P., I, 167, 992. 
4« C. B. P., I, 70. 



72 DAYS OF TRUCE 

pending the appointment of commissioners. 40 When the 
Scotch wardens refused to settle for. hurts the English 
wardens generally declined to meet them at all. 50 

Still another difficulty was due to what was called the 
'shooting' of meetings. This custom, by no means so vio- 
lent as it sounds, was that of a warden refusing for one 
cause or another to keep the day of truce after it had been 
appointed by agreement with his opposite. 51 Numerous 
complaints against the Scotch wardens were sent by the 
English wardens to the Privy Council on account of this 
custom, though it was not confined to Scotland. For ex- 
ample, Sir John Forster, in 1587, refused on account of 
the execution of Mary to keep an appointment for a day 
of truce that he had made with Lord Cesford, and Robert 
Cary refused to keep a like appointment in 1598. 52 

The raising of a disturbance or a fray at a day of truce 
often prevented the securing of justice at the meeting. 
Occasionally the results were so disturbing that the only 
solution was through a meeting of English and Scotch 
commissioners, who settled the matter by treaty. 

In one instance a group of English who were follow- 
ing the fray passed near the meeting place. The assem- 
bly promptly broke up to enable the English present to 
join their fellow-countrymen. John Cary in writing to 
Cecil about the affair said that they would have gotten all 
their justice if it hadn't been for that. 53 

Another disturbing custom was that of 'baughling' or 
'bawlching. ' This was the carrying around on a spear of 
the glove or coat of a person who had been convicted of an 
offence and had been bound for damages but who had not 
kept the pledge. The act was an accusation that he had 

49 Ibid, 117, 127, 129, 164, 206, 241; C. B. P., II, 209. 

eo C. B. P., I, 129. 

si Ibid, 123, 190, 204, 473, 691, etc. 

52 Ibid, 485; C. B. P., II, 561. 

53 C. B. P., II, 1485. 



DAYS OF TRUCE 73 

broken his faith and usually resulted in an immediate 
fight. 54 Baughling at a day of truce was punished by fine 
and imprisonment but the custom seems to have kept up 
as long as truce days were held. 

More important in their results than these minor affrays 
were the disturbances which resulted in the murder of 
gentlemen on either side. Two such affairs occurred with- 
in the reign of Elizabeth. The first was the killing of Sir 
George Heron and fifteen other Englishmen at a day of 
truce held at Redeswier in July, 1575, between Sir John 
Forster and the Keeper of Liddesdale. Sir John Forster, 
the warden, was taken prisoner and kept in ward by the 
Scotch for nearly three weeks. The Regent of Scotland 
was willing to make almost any amends for this act, even 
offering Carmichael, the Scotch warden, as hostage to the 
queen. The final result was, however, not altogether sat- 
isfactory to the English. Eight Scots were sent to Eng- 
land to pay the penalty for the crime, but Lord Hunsdon 
said of them that they were a "sort of beggarly Harlotts 
and sheep thieves" and not worth hanging. 55 In a report 
made just after the affair happened, it was stated that it 
was partly the Englishmen's own fault for it was against 
the ancient custom for a warden to meet a keeper. 56 

The second affair was the killing of Sir Francis Russell 
by a chance shot in an affray raised at a truce day held 
between Sir John Forster and Lord Ker of Fernihurst. 
The Privy Council seems to have thought that Forster was 
at fault in this case, for the state papers are full of 
explanations from the wardens and other borderers con- 
cerning the manner of holding a day of truce. 57 The 

54 C. B. P., I, 329, C. B. P., II, 783, 784, 907, 1310. 

05 C. S. P., For., 1575-1577, 215, 216, 244, 257, 283, 297, 352. 

so Ibid, 309. 

BTCott. Ms. Calig., C. VIII, f. 199, et seq; C. B. P., I, 330, et 
seq.; Letters of Elizabeth and James, Cam. Soc. Pub., vol. 79, pp. 
18, 19, 20, 27, 31, etc. 



74 DAYS OF TRUCE 

death of Lord Russell occurred in July, 1585, and was the 
immediate cause of the appointment of commissioners and 
the treaty concerning the borders which was made early 
in 1586, at which meeting Sir Thomas Ker was convicted 
for complicity in this offence. He was imprisoned at 
Aberdeen as a punishment, where he died the same year. 58 

A more summary method of securing redress than that 
provided by the day of truce was the custom known as 
"following the trod." Trod or "troade" was of two sorts, 
' ' hot ' ' which was fresh pursuit when the goods were stolen, 
and "cold," which was pursuit at any other time there- 
after. When following the trod the pursuers could pass 
into the opposite realm. If this occurred the pursuer had 
to take witness of the first person he met or of the resi- 
dents of the first village he came to that he was on lawful 
trod; he was also required to ask their company and as- 
sistance in that pursuit. "Troublance of trod" was the 
expression used to describe assaults upon or interference 
with the lawful pursuer of a trod. The treaties provided 
that the trod should be made openly with hue and cry 
and hound and horn. When the offender was caught he 
was described as having been taken with the red hand and 
summary vengeance might be taken upon him, 59 even to 
the extent of taking his life and burning his house. 60 

A curious means of getting assistance in the following of 
the trod is indicated in a complaint of the Rutledges' to 
Walsingham. Their brother had been hurt and they had 
gone to Lord Scrope, the warden, and had shown him "the 
bloody shirt" and required his assistance with men. Lord 
Scrope neglected to aid them and their brother was after- 
wards murdered by the same persons who had earlier in- 
jured him. 61 

esc. B. P., I, 417. 

59 C. B. P., II, 1310. 

eo C. S. P., For., 1572-1574, 115. 

6i C. B. P., I, 191. 



DAYS OF TRUCE 75 

The difficulty of securing complete redress at a day of 
truce has already been referred to. As the cases accumula- 
ted in which justice could not be secured, the complaints 
to the queen and the Privy Council increased in number 
until the Council was moved to devise a remedy. This 
remedy usually took the form of a commission which was 
to meet a similar commission from Scotland to settle all 
disputed questions. There is, for example, the statement 
that when the wardens stop justice for private causes, the 
sovereigns appointed some special man to join with these 
officers to further justice. 62 Again, in 1580, Lord Scrope 
stated that he understood that the Scotch King had ap- 
pointed commissioners to meet the border wardens at Ber- 
wick to redress complaints. 63 

The commissioners were usually the same as those which 
negotiated the treaties made from time to time and 
which have already been mentioned in the first part of 
this chapter. At their meeting the commissioners decided 
what raids should be redressed and in Avhat order; the 
method for the trial of particular cases was arranged; 
and, in general, they tried to clear away all disputes. For 
example, in 1559, after filing the bills, the commission- 
ers set a time for delivery of all offenders and ordered 
the wardens to keep their days of truce at the appointed 
places in each march and at frequent times, that to avoid 
trouble the warden should file and deliver on honor, and 
further provided that prisoners should be honestly treated 
and charitably housed in time to come. 64 

A few years later, in 1563, there is a record of another 
commission. 65 After 1563, however, we do not find a rec- 
ord of any other until 1585-1586. The long interval may 

62 C. B. P., II, 342, 400. 

63 C. B. P., I, 49. 

e* Sadler State Papers, I, p. 459. 
65 C. B. P., I, 57. 



76 DAYS OF TRUCE 

be accounted for by the fact that during the first ten 
years of Elizabeth's reign, many other difficulties in the 
relationship between Scotland and England had to be 
settled and border affairs were neglected, while the merci- 
less punishment visited on both the Scotch and English 
adherents of the Rising in the North was a lesson which 
lasted for a number of years. As early as 1580, there 
were tentative arrangements for the appointment of a new 
commission. 66 The actual work of this commission was, 
according to Sir John Forster, to secure a general redress 
on both sides since 1563. 67 The meeting appears to have 
been delayed from time to time for one cause or another. 
Finally, in 1585, they came together, but the Scotch com- 
missioners refused to allow delivery either for murder or 
breach of the truce. 68 A treaty was, however, made, and 
as we have previously noted, Sir Thomas Ker was con- 
victed for his responsibility for the murder of Lord Rus- 
sell. 

In 1588, another commission was appointed by Lord 
Hunsdon under authorization by the queen. 69 The com- 
mission met early in the year and filed many of the largest 
bills on both sides and provided for the delivery of pledges 
to the wardens who were to appoint days to make delivery 
for eighty other bills. 70 The commissioners evidently 
dealt with the larger and more important bills but used 
their authority to force the settlement of the smaller ones 
by the wardens. The commissioners further ordained that 
all attempts since Haldenrigg (1570) should be redressed 
and that proclamation to that effect should be made at 

go Ibid, 56. In 1577, Maxwell wrote to Lord Scrope saying that 
there had not been one attempt in six months. C. S. P., For., 1575- 
1577, 1384. 

ex C. B. P., I, 57. 

es C. B. P., I, 171. 

69 Ibid, 585, 586. 

to Ibid, 587, 588. 



DAYS OF TRUCE 77 

Berwick, Alnwick, Morpeth, Hexham, Carlisle, Burton and 
other needful places. 71 

Another commission was appointed late in 1595 ; 72 the 
immediate cause of this was the rescue of Kinmont Willie 
from Carlisle Castle by Buccleugh, and the arrest of Roger 
Woodrington, a deputy warden of the Middle March, by 
Sir Robert Ker, a Scotch warden. William Armstrong of 
Kinmont had, it was claimed, broken the truce on a day 
of meeting between the Scots and the English. He was 
taken by some of Lord Scrope's retinue and imprisoned 
in Carlisle Castle on March 17, 1596. Four weeks later, 
on the stormy night of April 14, Walter Scott of Hardyng 
(an ancestor of Sir Walter Scott), Will of Rosetrees and 
Ritchie's Hutcheon, with five hundred other of Buc- 
cleugh 's friends, armed and provided with crow-bars, 
picks, axes, and scaling ladders, undermined the postern 
door of the outer ward of the castle, got to the room where 
Kinmont was imprisoned, released him, and escaped be- 
fore they were seen by the watch of the inner ward. The 
offence made Lord Scrope furious with anger and chagrin 
and he refused to have anything to do with the Scots, 
either to give redress or to secure it, until some satisfaction 
was given him for this invasion of the castle of which he 
was the keeper. Woodrington, the deputy warden, was 
simply seized in revenge for the taking of Kinmont. 73 
Besides these offences, claims of a total value of nearly 
one hundred thousand pounds sterling stood unredressed. 74 

In a letter written to Lord Burghley by William Bowes 
there is an interesting account of the procedure of the 
commission. Two of the commissioners and two deputy 



7i Ibid, 582, 593, 594'. 

72 C. B. P., II, 179. 

73 C. B. P., II, 237, 252, 257, 264, 274, 285, etc. 

74 Ibid, 485 ; Letters of Elizabeth and James, Cam. Soc. Pub., Vol. 
79, p. 114. 



78 DAYS OF TRUCE 

wardens settled Scotch bills. At the same time the other 
six commissioners were trying Sir Robert Ker's invasion. 
The other bills were divided, — Sir Robert Cary, two deputy 
wardens and assizers of both nations with two of the 
commissioners taking robberies and six of the commis- 
sioners deciding cases of murder. 75 They began with the 
latest offence according to border custom and law, 76 which 
as a recent writer points out was at least one of the rea- 
sons for so much difficulty in securing redress for of- 
fences. 77 On account of the comparatively short time al- 
lowed for the proving of so many complaints both at 
days of truce, and at meetings of commissioners, the griev- 
ances of long standing, would seldom be reached, and even 
if they were, there was a constantly increasing probability 
of the death or disappearance of principals and witnesses. 
All who were complained of and who did not appear at the 
day of truce were to be filed absolutely. A grand jury 
was empannelled to investigate cases. 78 As a result of 
their sessions there was a total of 376 English bills and 
204 Scotch bills filed. 79 The balance was to be settled at 
appointed days of truce at the border. 80 The commission 
ers agreed on the entry of pledges for the bills filed as 
follows: Two or more of every broken clan were to be 
entered. The warden himself was to enter a gentleman 
for those not of any known clan. When entered they were 
to be kept by indifferent men, not offended parties. 
Pledges were to remain until the bills were satisfied; if 
any should die, another was to take his place ; and, finally, 
if the bills were not satisfied within a year the hostage 

75 C. B. P., II, 494. 

76 Ibid, 486. 

77 "The Wardens of the Northern Marches," p. 24. 

78 C. B. P., II, 481, 550. 

79 Ibid, 520, 607, 608. These numbers are for the East and West 
Marches only. 

so Ibid, 560. 



DAYS OF TRUCE 79 

might be executed and another might be demanded. 81 
This last provision does not seem to have been carried out. 82 

On finishing the work the commissioners caused procla- 
mation to be made at the market crosses of the head bor- 
oughs of the marches in both realms, forbidding the in- 
habitants thereof to disturb the peace. 83 

In spite of the power of the commissioners we find evi- 
dence that their work was often badly done. The leaving 
of many bills to be filed by the wardens, to whom were 
also turned over the arrangements for the delivery of of- 
fenders, the non-sustaining of Lord Scrope in his refusal 
to submit his rolls to the commissioners till he was assured 
of the punishment of Buccleugh for the rescue of Kinmont 
Willie, 84 — all point to a hesitation on the part of Eliza- 
beth and her ministers to do anything which might seri- 
ously endanger her peaceful relations with Scotland. The 
commission had hardly finished its work when Lord Wil- 
loughby complained that the bills filed were not sworn, 
that innocent were delivered for guilty and that the war- 
dens could not remedy the commissioners' omissions. 85 
Affairs seem no better than in 1559, when the Earl of 
Northumberland complained to Sadler that the Earl of 
Bothwell denied responsibility for the carrying out of 
pledges made by the commissioners. 86 

It does not appear that the commissions ever secured a 
complete clearing of the docket, but at least one more step 
was made toward full justice. The lack of decision and 
force on the part of both commissioners and wardens in 
dealing with Scotch matters is in striking contrast to the 
vigor of border administration when only English offenders 
were involved. 

si ibid, 594. 

82 C. B. P., II, 1166. 

83 Ibid, 621. 

84 Ibid, 491, 497, 506. 

85 Ibid, 1137. 

sec. S. P., For., 1559-1560, 75. 



CHAPTER VI 

WARDEN COURTS 

Just as the days of truce were the ordinary means of en- 
forcing the provisions of the treaties, so the warden courts 
enforced the statutes and customs of the borders that ap- 
plied to disturbances by Englishmen over whom the war- 
den had jurisdiction, and to offences by Scots that were 
pursued by trod and taken red-handed. 1 Warden courts 
were generally kept at some place in the march for which 
the court was held, 2 but this custom was not invariable. 3 

These courts were in form and procedure very much 
like an ordinary court of oyer and terminer and gaol- 
delivery, with the exception that they exercised a more 
summary or martial power. 

When the warden decided that the holding of a court 
was desirable for the peace of his march, he directed his 
warden-serjeant to warn the country and to proclaim that 
a court would be held on such a day appointed and that 
all who had complaints were to send in the names of the 
offenders to the warden or to the officer of a certain dis- 
trict, within, for example, ten days. 4 The warden, gen- 
tlemen, and country assembled at the appointed place and 
went to the Moot Hall, whereupon the warden-serjeant 
commanded that all should keep silence and hear the 
queen's commission of wardenry read. This done, the 
Serjeant returned his panel of those who had been sum- 

1 Warden Court is sometimes used as a name for the meeting 
at a day of truce. It should he used only for the courts martial 
held by wardens for the trial of march treason. 

2 C. B. P., I, 835. 
a Ibid, 507. 

4C. S. P., For., 1569-1570, 768. 

80 



WARDEN COURTS 81 

moned, and their names were called one after another 
until enough were secured to serve as a grand jury. The 
foreman, and then the rest of the jury were sworn to make 
true presentment and inquiry of all things that should be 
given into their charge. The charge was then read to the 
jury, covering the list of crimes known as march treasons. 

All men were then commanded to bring in any com- 
plaints or bills concerning matters triable in a warden 
court. Recognizances and sureties were then to be called 
if there were any. The grand jury then deliberated on 
their verdict. When the bills were brought in, the pris- 
oners were brought to the bar, one after another, and 
arraigned for march treason and each was asked whether 
or not he was guilty. If he said he was not guilty, the 
trial went on with a trial jury of gentlemen, the prisoners 
having leave to challenge. After such a jury was secured, 
its members were sworn to make a true deliverance be- 
tween the prisoner and the Queen. The prisoner was then 
arraigned for a second time before the trial jury and 
asked if he had anything to say for himself. The prisoner 
having been heard, the jury was charged to inquire and 
find whether A. B. prisoner at the bar was guilty of the 
march treason of which he was indicted and arraigned 
and whether he fled upon committing the act. If he was 
found guilty, inquiry was also to be made as to what 
lands, goods and tenements he had when the crime was 
committed and of what value they were. The witnesses 
were then called for, and after hearing them, the jury 
went apart to agree upon a verdict. In giving their ver- 
dict the jury was to be polled, each one announcing 
'guilty' or 'not guilty/ After the judgment was pro- 
nounced by the Lord Warden in all the cases, the court 
was adjourned till a new proclamation was made that an- 
other court was to be held. 5 

s State Papers, Borders, XLI, 1543. The order of procedure in 



82 WARDEN COURTS 

It is easily seen that there was no radical difference in 
procedure between the warden and . other courts. The 
oaths of the jurors were almost word for word the same 
as are to-day used in the courts of oyer and terminer. 
The prisoner does not appear to have been represented by 
counsel or attorney. It, however, seems to have been diffi- 
cult even for the warden to obtain a lawyer in the bor- 
ders, and in any event the rights of accused persons have 
only comparatively recently been so safeguarded in our 
ordinary courts. 

The principal difference was in the matters included in 
the charge to the jury of indictment. Many of the offences 
can easily be identified as having been included under one 
or another of the statutes, such as the selling of horses 
into Scotland and the taking or giving of blackmail. In 
other cases, however, the statutory basis for punishment is 
not so clear. 

The offences may be grouped into three classes, — first, 
offences which directly or indirectly in peace or war 
brought danger or hurt to England or Englishmen 
through traffic of any sort with the Scotch ; second, offences 
in which English dealt with English but in which Scot- 
land or the Scotch were involved in any way; third, of- 
fences which involve danger or disturbance to Scotland or 
Scotchmen by English during time of peace. Thirty-one 
different offences are named in the state papers. It was 
march treason to persuade or bring any Scotchman into 
England in order to slaughter, burn or steal; to accom- 
pany him during the commission of any of these offences, 
or to give him aid or comfort afterwards; to furnish any 
arms or munitions of war of any sort, or any provisions 

a warden court is given in great detail in this document. A simi- 
lar manuscript from a private library giving the same details is 
quoted in Nicholson's "History of Westmorland and Cumberland," 
Introduction, p. XXIII. A number of verbal variations indicate 
that neither document is copied from the other. 



WARDEN COURTS 83 

of corn, leather, wool, felt, iron, etc., or any horses or nags, 
either to a Scot or to an Englishman to be sold to a Scot, 
without the special license of the Lord Warden in writing. 

It was also march treason for an Englishman to give 
information to Scots in time of war, to marry a Scot, to 
take timber into Scotland or gold or silver above the value 
of 40s. at a time ; or for an Englishman not to join the fray 
against the Scotch either when the offence was of his own 
knowledge or when called upon by the warden or by the 
searchers or watchers; to agree with a Scot to commit any 
rebellion in England; to liberate, without the license of 
the Lord Warden, a Scot taken red-handed; or, to join 
with a Scot in counterfeiting English or foreign coin. 

The second group of offences concerns dealings of Eng- 
lish with English which would bring injury to other Eng- 
lishmen. It was, for example, march treason for an 
Englishman to convey an English offender into Scotland 
or to help him in any way, or to file a Scotch bill wrong- 
fully on an Englishman ; to hinder an Englishman from fol- 
lowing trod, or to interfere in any way with the authori- 
ties, or to neglect to keep watches as well against English 
thieves as against the Scotch; or, to be disobedient in any 
other respect, or to take or give blackmail either from or 
to a Scot or another Englishman. 

Finally, there is a third group of offences which governed 
the behavior of the English toward the realm of Scotland 
and its inhabitants in time of peace. It was march trea- 
son, therefore, to raise any rebellion in Scotland, to re- 
ceive a Scotch rebel, to take prisoner a Scot who was trav- 
eling in England with the license of the Lord Warden, or 
to seize and detain his goods, or to rob a Scotchman resid- 
ing in England with license, or to call wrongfully for the 
entering of any Scotchman at a day of truce. 

The close relationship of the office of warden with the 
ordinary administration of justice is indicated by the fact 



84 WARDEN COURTS 

that the warden of the Middle March was custos rotulorum 
for the county of Northumberland and the warden of the 
West March custos rotulorum for Cumberland. The office 
in Westmorland was held by a gentleman of that county 
in 1584, 6 and we have no record of its having ever been 
held by the warden. 

The people tried in these courts were English "traitors" 
and Scots who were taken red-handed in England or in 
Scotland after fresh pursuit. 7 The English who caused 
most of the trouble were dwellers along the Rede and 
Tyne and were notorious throughout England for their 
outlawry and ill-behavior. Harrison says of them: "In 
this countrie also are the three vales or dales whereof men 
haue doubted whether theeves or true men doo most 
abound in them, that is to saie, Riddesdale, Tindale and 
Liddesdale" and continues by saying that through the 
good efforts of Master Gilpin and other ministers of the 
gospel their "former sauage demeanor is verie much 
abated. ' ' 8 The Society of Merchant Adventurers of 
Newcastle-upon-Tyne ordained in 1554, "That no fre 
brother of this Fellysshype shall from hensfourthe take 
non apprentice to serve in this Fellysshype of non suche as 
is or shalbe borne or brought up in Tyndall, Ryddisdall 
or anye suche lycke places; in payne of XX£" and to 
this was added "whereas the parties there brought upp 
ar knowen either by educatyon or nature, not to be of 
honest conversation. ' ' 9 

When any of the dwellers within a march committed 
march treason it was the business of the warden serjeant 

e Collection of Ordinances for the Royal Household, etc., p. 274; 
C. B. P., II, 184, 862. 

7 Ibid, 1522. 

8 Harrison's " Description of England," in Holinshed's Chronicles, 
I, p. 154. Ed. London, 1807. 

9 "Merchant Adventures of Newcastle-upon-Tyne," Surtees Soc. 
Pub., XCIII, pp. 27, 28. 



WARDEN COURTS 85 

to arrest them, as he was the constable of the warden 
court. 10 The warden, however, might call on the sheriffs 
of all the northern counties for assistance. 11 

Most march treasons were felonies by statute and some 
of them were without benefit of clergy. Others again were 
punished by fines or imprisonment and in some instances 
by the assessment of damages upon the offender to be paid 
to the party grieved. 

The death penalty for march treason was usually inflicted 
by beheading. For example, Sir John Forster held a war- 
den court at Morpeth in 1567, and tried thirteen people, 
whereof six were beheaded, 12 and in 1587, Lord Hunsdon 
wrote to Burghley to tell him that much of the riding and 
spoiling in the Middle March was due to the neglect of 
Mr. Ridley and Mr. Heron and that he suspects Mr. Rid- 
ley and some other Englishmen of bringing in Scots, 
"whiche, " he says, "if I find trewe, I will make them 
hopp heddles. ' ' 13 The next year Lord Hunsdon brought 
Ridley and Heron before a warden court at Alnwick 
where they refused to stand trial but submitted them- 
selves to her majesty's mercy. It does not appear whether 
they were eventually pardoned or executed. 14 Some- 
times, however, traitors were hanged instead of being 
beheaded. 15 

In 1595, Lord Eure wrote to Burghley that he was hunt- 
ing out English felons and march traitors and was going 
to hold a court to reform them. Shortly afterwards he 
wrote that he intended holding a warden court the next 
day after a session of oyer and terminer and gaol deliv- 
ery, because as it touched life and death, he wanted the 

io Cott. Ms. Calig., B. VIII, f. 405. 

n C. S. P., Doui., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. XXXII, 59. 

12 C. S. P., For., 1566-1568, 917. 

is C. B. P., I, 463. 

14 Ibid, 601. 

J5Cary's Memoirs, pp. 69-70; State Papers, Borders, XLI, f. 62, 



86 WARDEN COURTS 

assistance of the gravest in the north. 16 This seems clearly 
to indicate a difference between the administration of civil 
and military justice. 

When Scotch thieves were taken they were hanged, al- 
though the right to do this was challenged on occasion by 
the Scotch King who claimed that such a right belonged 
only to the Scotch warden. 17 In 1595, Robert Cary sent 
out part of the garrison of Berwick to watch for some 
Scotch thieves. When the latter were caught, ' ' They were 
no sooner brought before me but a jury went upon them 
and being found guilty they were presently hanged." 18 
In 1564, at York, out of thirteen border thieves who were 
arraigned, seven were executed ; and at Newcastle, of four- 
teen condemned, thirteen were executed. 19 On another oc- 
casion Cary again speaks of executing a thief. 20 In 1600, 
Lord Scrope wrote to Cecil that they had just executed 
three Scotch thieves, among them an Eliot, "in whose be- 
halfe the King sent to mee very earnestly, but I had no 
laysure at the tyme and so the thief was hanged before I 
knew the King's pleasure." 21 And in 1587, Lord Huns- 
don at a court held at Alnwick for the West and Middle 
Marches, executed a number of thieves, both English and 
Scotch. 22 

In the case of minor offences the punishment was ordi- 
narily fixed by statute. Sometimes the offence was agreed 
upon by the warden and the gentlemen of his wardenry 
as one to be punished as a dangerous practice. This 
was the case when Lord Scrope took up the question 

is C. B. P., II, 187, 188, 227. 

"State Papers, Borders, XLI, f. 162; C. B. P., II, 1492, 1495, 
1508. 

is Cary's Memoirs, pp. 69-70. 

is C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1547-1565, Eliz. XII, 21. 

20 C. B. P., II, 373, 374. 

2i Ibid, 1264. 

22 C. B. P., I, 507. 



WARDEN COURTS 87 

of blackmail in the West March. It was to be punished 
by six months' imprisonment and, in addition, the offender 
was to be fined £5 sterling. Later, a statute made the 
giving or taking of blackmail punishable by death. 23 

If the offenders could not be captured, their homes and 
barns were burned by order of the warden and they were 
proclaimed outlaws. 24 

Just as there was trouble in securing redress at a day 
of truce so there was difficulty in the punishment of 
march treason in a warden court. 

In the first place there was some dispute as to what con- 
stituted march treason. A memorandum of 1590, gives as 
undisputed march treasons the carrying of horses into 
Scotland, conveying arms or weapons or munitions into 
Scotland, betraying the persons or goods of Englishmen, 
and wilfully suffering Scotch murderers to escape. Dis- 
puted march treasons were to tryst or hold converse with 
a Scot without the license of the warden, to tryst with a 
Scot with license of the warden but about matters of 
march treason, or to travel in Scotland without a license 
from the warden. It was, however, not march treason to 
make a raid into Scotland by day or night to steal or rob. 25 
But even if this dispute had been settled, there remained 
other difficulties which interfered with the efficiency of 
the warden courts. 

The appeal of important Scotch persons to delay the en- 
forcement of the law has been already mentioned. 20 In 
addition, there was always the question of compounding 
felonies. English law is strict with respect to this prac- 
tice but there are many examples of it on the borders, 27 

23 Nicholson's "Leges Marchiarum," pp. 113, etc. 

2* C. B. P., II, 1479. 

25Cott. Ms. Calig., B. VIII, ff. 401, 402. 

26 C. B. P., II, 1479. 

27 C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1566-1579, entries for 1570, passim. 
Rebels compound for escheats, etc. 



88 WARDEN COURTS 

particularly where relations with Scotland were involved. 
For example, Lord Scrope wrote in 1594, that he had 
taken two English thieves in Scotland and that he had 
received such offers for their release as were never before 
made. 28 

Other circumstances interfering with the enforcement 
of the law were the constant appeals of victims that the 
lives of those who had injured them should be spared, 
since they were afraid of entering into a feud. For in- 
stance, Sir Cuthbert Collingwood wrote in 1587, saying 
that John Hand of Atterbury and all his friends petition 
that certain thieves (Trumbulls, Douglasses and others) 
should be spared, for if they were executed, according to 
their deserts, it would be an everlasting trouble to the 
said John Hand. 29 

Somewhat allied to this was the difficulty of getting con- 
victions owing to intermarriages and friendships. For 
example, Lord Eure held a warden court in 1596, at which 
there were about seventy prisoners but only three convic- 
tions. Some were so befriended that the jury sat that 
day and night and the next day and at night there was 
still no verdict. Lord Eure further wrote that he had for 
the safety of the gentlemen, withdrawn the prisoner by 
the advice of her majesty's counsel, though not agreeable 
to common law. The jury rested without meat or drink, 
according to border custom. 30 Still another complaint 
arose from the existence of independent jurisdictions 
within the wardenry. The officers of these districts made 
private arrangements with English and Scotch offenders 
without the knowledge of the warden. 31 This was march 
treason as well as interference with justice but does not 



28 c. B. P., I, 980. 

29 State Papers, Borders, XXV, f. 173. 
so C. B. P., II, 249. 

si C- B. P., I, 662. 



WARDEN COURTS 89 

seem ever to have been punished. Finally, there were 
two or three provisions of the laws which were never seri- 
ously enforced. One of these forbade the selling of horses 
into Scotland, about which we find constant complaints 
but which seemed still to continue almost unabated until 
the end of Elizabeth's reign. The others related to the 
presence of Scotch persons in the marches and Berwick, 
and to intermarriages of English with Scotch. These pro- 
visions were practically never enforced in the later years. 32 
In 1563, the Queen gave special permission to a Scotch 
minister to serve the town of Berwick, 33 and in 1574, the 
customer of Berwick was proven to be a Scot. He lost his 
office and was apparently banished. 34 In February, 1568, 
there were four hundred forty-three Scots residing in the 
East March in defiance of border law 35 and there is con- 
stant complaint of the presence of the Scotch in the sug- 
gestions for improvements of border affairs. 36 One John 
Anell complained in June, 1586, to Mr. Randolph, one of 
Elizabeth's commissioners for the borders, that he had 
been put off his tenancy in the Middle March and a 
Scotsman installed in it, and that since Candlemas four 
other Scotch families had been brought in. Randolph says 
in a note that this custom was so common that an English- 
man could not get nor keep any land; that Menelaws (a 
district in the Middle March) had not an Englishman in 
it; and that every third man within ten miles of the bor- 
der in the East and Middle Marches is a Scot. 37 

The border lords not only granted tenantries to Scots 
but often employed them as retainers and servants. For 
example, Launcelot Carleton complained that Thomas Mus- 

32 C. B. P., I, 75, 435, 834; C. B. P., II, 213, 1192, etc. 

33 C. S. P., For., 1563, 1138. 

s* Ibid, 1572-1574, 1327, 1383, 1392. 

35 Ibid, 1566-1568, 2015, 2133. 

36 Ibid; C. B. P., I, 165, 834. 

37 C. B, P., I, 435. 



90 WARDEN COURTS 

grave had made Bewcastle a den of thieves and a harbor 
of murderers and felons, Scotch and English. 38 Besides 
these reasons frequent intermarriages not only brought 
Scots into England but probably also prevented the en- 
forcement of the full penalty of the law. Lord Eure, in 
1596, suggested that instead of imprisoning them and con- 
fiscating their goods that it might disturb their King less 
to quietly put them and their goods over the boundary. 39 
On the Avhole, however, march law appears to have been 
administered with promptness and severity. The only 
evidence of miscarriage of justice is that given by Lord 
Eure and we learn elsewhere that he had not the confi- 
dence of his subordinates and eventually either resigned 
under charges or was removed from office. Lord Hunsdon 
did not have any trouble in securing a large percentage 
of convictions in 1587, while he was warden of the Middle 
March during the suspension of Sir John Forster. 

38 c. B. P., II, 1361. 

39 Ibid, 213. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

In addition to the enforcement of penalties for disorders 
and other crimes by means of the trials at days of truce 
and in warden courts, the peace and safety of the borders 
were secured through a system of defence maintained 
chiefly to protect the marches from incursions by the 
Scotch. 

According 1 to the custom on the borders as well as by 
the provisions of their leases, holders of castles or towers 
were required to maintain them in proper condition for 
defence, and their sub-tenants were bound in turn to main- 
tain horse and armor for themselves, or else these had to 
be furnished by the lease holder. 1 In order to be certain 
of the condition of the mounts and armor, musters were 
held regularly twice each year in the marches. 2 A great 
part of the state papers is composed of lists of the men 
who appeared at the musters, coupled with a statement as 
to whether or not they had a horse, and the description of 
the armor with which they were provided. If the men 
themselves were not freeholders, it was stated also which 
lord was responsible for their being properly furnished. 3 

In the statements given of the results of the musters 
there appear great discrepancies from time to time. These 
differences do not seem to be always the result of neglect 

12 and 3, Philip and Mary, Chapter I; C. B. P., I, 78, 159;. 
C. B. P., II, 268. 

2 The dates on which the musters were taken were about the 1st 
of April and of November. 

s C. B. P., I and II, passim. 

91 



92 THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

of the landlords properly to furnish their tenants, but may- 
be ascribed either to a different method of accounting or to 
a difference in the care with which the musters were in- 
spected. For example, a muster of the East March dated 
March 10, 1579, 4 gives 323 horsed and furnished and 825 
unfurnished, a total of 1,148. Another statement dated 
March 31, of the same year, gives 363 furnished and 753 
unfurnished. In the Middle March at the same time there 
were 1,145 furnished and 525 unfurnished. In the West 
March the muster masters found 520 furnished without 
any mention of those who were not furnished. The next 
year, Lord Scrope gives the number furnished only with 
armor, etc., in the West March as 4,031, furnished with 
nags, 679; unfurnished, 3,301, a total of 8,01 1. 5 Three 
years later, in 1583, the total number of footmen in the 
three marches is given as 15,133 of which 7,174 were fur- 
nished with armor and 7,959 unfurnished. 6 The improve- 
ment in administration in the latter part of Elizabeth's 
reign must have brought about an increase of population 
on the borders, for in 1593, the whole number mustered 
on the borders is given as 7,298 horse and 13,348 foot, a 
total of 20,646 able men, 7 which would indicate a popula- 
tion of about one hundred thousand. Lord Scrope 's clerk 
gives, in an estimate made about 1585, a total of 15,072 
able men in the West Wardenry alone. This probably in- 
cluded all men between the ages of sixteen and sixty. 
These were the border militia and were all bound to serve 
when called upon by the Lord Lieutenant or by the war- 
den. 8 But Willoughby says in 1600, that Scrope had ten 

* This date should probably be 1580, as it is joined with the two 
following of that year. 

s Bowes' Collection of Border Causes, Nos. 8, 9, 10, 12 in State 
Papers, Borders, XX, 76; C. B. P., I, 47, 48, 54, 94. 

e C. B. P., I, 160. 

7 C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. XXXII, 77. 

s "Nicholson's History of Westmorland and Cumberland," Intro., 
p. LXXXIX; A. P. C, 1587, March 29 and Nov. 1. 



THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 93 

or twelve thousand able men, 9 and this under circum- 
stances where "Willoughby would have stated the largest 
possible number. It seems impossible to reconcile this dif- 
ference. It is also hard to account for the sudden shrink- 
age between 1593 and 1595 that is indicated in the mus- 
ters taken in Northumberland, in those years. These give 
a total of 920 light horse in 1583 and of only 136 in 1595. 10 
It is just possible that the continued peace with Scotland 
and better control by the wardens had made it safer as 
well as more profitable to raise cattle instead of horses, 
for as far back as 1559, the musters indicate 1,830 horse 
and 2,988 footmen, a very creditable showing as compared 
with the later years. 11 

The Bishop of Durham was liable for border serv- 
ice from the County Palatine. In 1596, he claimed the 
privilege of serving with his levies on the borders for only 
fourteen days on their own charges and then to take the 
queen's pay if they served longer. 12 They were bound to 
come only on the call of the Warden of the East or of the 
West March; if it was to resist invasion the usual muster 
from the Bishopric was one thousand, but only five hun- 
dred if they were to be employed in Scotland. The war- 
den assembled the Bishopric by writing to the Bishop if 
the latter was in the county, if not, to the sheriff and the 
other officers. 13 

Westmorland seems not to have been much depended 
on for border service on account of its distance from Scot- 
land and the lack of familiarity of its inhabitants with 
border stratagem. 14 

The border lords, their servants and tenants were called 
together for service either by the burning of beacons by 

8C. B. P., II, 1193. 

io Ibid, 168, 169, 170, 173, 174. 

ii C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 365. 

12 C. B. P., II, 234. 

is State Papers, Borders, XX, 76. 

14 C. B. P., II, 1435. 



94 THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

night, by proclamations in market towns, or by letters 
sent to the gentlemen, officers and chief men within the 
district, appointing the time and place of assembly. 15 How 
this militia was used after it was assembled appears in 
many places in the state papers. For example, the troops 
were required to attend the warden several times each 
year into Scotland for two nights and one day going and 
coming, for the purpose of holding a day of truce. Often 
they were called for more serious work. On one occasion 
Lord Scrope placed five hundred men in blue coats at Kers- 
hopefoot to ward off attacks from Scotland. 16 At another 
he called together five or six hundred borderers at Carlisle 
to keep the Scotch wardens, Lords Morton, Herries and 
their attendants, home from Edinburgh, and promised 
to repeat his action if the king should again summon the 
Scots against the assembly of nobles at St. Johnstons. 17 
On still another occasion Richard Lowther, the deputy 
warden of the West March went to the boundary with one 
thousand men on account of trouble between Bothwell 
and the King of Scots. Just after the execution of Queen 
Mary, Sir John Forster warned all the gentlemen in his 
wardenry to provide armor and weapons and be ready 
with their tenants to repel any sudden invasion from 
Scotland, 18 and again in 1593, he issued a similar order 
to be read in the parish churches. 19 In 1601, Sir Robert 
Cary wrote to Cecil and told him that sixty of the gentle- 
men and their followers had come to the wastes and 
stayed five weeks at ' ' The Fort in the Heynyng. ' ' 20 

In addition to the maintenance of the border militia, 
the towns and parishes along the border were bound to 

is State Papers, Borders, XX, 76. 

ie C. B. P., I, 196. 

it C. B. P., I, 212. 

is Ibid, 491. 

is Ibid, 901. 

20 C. B. P., II, 1400. 



THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 95 

maintain watches, beacons and slew dogs. The orders for 
the watches made in 1555, by Lord Wharton, Lord War- 
den General of the Marches, appear to have been the 
basis for the arrangement which continued during the 
reign of Elizabeth. 21 Sussex, the Lieutenant General of 
the North, Lord Scrope, and Sir John Forster renewed 
and increased them in 1570, and Lord Scrope again re- 
established them in 1593. Unfortunately, there are not 
many details in the records of the intervening years. It 
appears, however, that the watches were laid spasmodically 
as danger threatened rather than regularly placed. The 
fact that the watches had to be furnished and paid by the 
county 22 may have been the reason of this laxness in ad- 
ministration. Lord Scrope at one time writing to Burgh- 
ley, spoke of being compelled to keep one hundred county 
men on watch for a fortnight, and in another letter, said 
that he had laid a plump watch 23 of forty horse every 
night, which the county would be unable to stand for any 
time. 24 Lord Eure in 1597, ordered a plump watch of 
forty men to be kept in Morpeth Ward (in the Middle 
March) and the same year Cary informed Burghley that 
the Scots had come as far as Alnwick and had taken the 
watches. 25 In 1601, there is record that there was "such 
watching in Penrith on the night as was not one hundred 
years before. Fifty watchers nightly." 20 

Watches and beacons are usually mentioned together in 
the provisions for defence. The latter was one of the 

2i C. S. P., For., 1569-1571, 1392; C. B. P., I, 834; Nicholson's 
"Leges Marchiarum," Appendix, pp. 209-323. 

22 C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 169; 1560-1561, 735; C. B. P., II, 
458; Burghley Papers, Haynes, I, pp. 217-220. 

23 "Plump watch" was composed of a group of horse or foot in- 
stead of single watchers. 

24 C. B. P., II, 114, 458. 

25 Ibid, 351, 831. 

26 "Town records of Carlisle" quoted in "Northumberland and the 
Borders"; by Walter White, London, 1859. 



96 THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

methods for calling the borderers to arms and was also the 
usual method of giving warning of the approach of Scotch 
raiders. 27 Lord Wharton's orders in 1555 gave a list of 
twenty places in the West March where provisions for 
beacon fires were to be maintained, 28 and as late as 1596 
they were still used for their customary purposes. 20 

One of the most curious points in connection with the 
defence of the borders is the keeping of what were called 
slew dogs or sleuth hounds. These dogs were, like the 
watches and beacons, to be maintained by the county or 
by the various towns, and were evidently used for the 
tracking of offenders to their homes. In 1596, Lord Eure 
ordered that they should be kept in convenient places and 
money levied, or an allowance made to maintain them, on 
pain of fine and imprisonment ex antiquo. so Some of the 
dwellers on the marches kept such dogs for their own sat- 
isfaction and to serve the county, which the county would 
not have been able to pay for. 31 Edward Grey, who served 
as deputy warden of the Middle March during the trial of 
Lord Eure, asked for a "Kallendar" by which he could 
call the dogs in their several divisions, 32 and, finally, we 
find that the men belonging to the garrison at Hexham 
who lived more than five miles away kept slew dogs. 33 
Some of them were of considerable value. For example, 
among a list of fifty-eight bills filed between the Middle 
March of England and the Keepership of Liddesdale in 
Scotland in 1590, there is one which claimed that the 
Scots had stolen several horses valued at from twenty 

27 C. B. P., I, 783; C. S. P., Dom, Add., 1566-1579, Eliz. XVII, 
101, 102, 107, 108. 

28 Nicholson's "History of Westmorland and Cumberland," Intro., 
p. XLIV; C. B. P., II, 336; C. B. P., I, 783. 

29 C. B. P., II, 336. 

so C. B. P., II, 536; Hist. Mss. Com., 3rd Keport, App., p. 39. 
si C. B. P., II, 652. 

32 Ibid, 831. 

33 Ibid, 854. 



THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 97 

shillings to five pounds, a sword and spear worth twenty 
shillings and a slew dog worth ten pounds. 34 In the 
whole fifty-eight bills there is no horse worth so much. 
Evidently these hounds were an important part of the 
system of border defence. 

In addition to this general border service, the garrisons 
maintained by the crown at various towns and castles 
were, with considerable frequency, drawn upon by the 
wardens for the defence of the borders. The chief of these 
towns was Berwick, which, although not within the bounds 
of any march, was considered as part of the borders. The 
governor of Berwick was almost invariably warden of the 
East March and consequently used his garrison in enforc- 
ing the laws of the marches within his jurisdiction. The 
number of men at Berwick varied from time to time but 
the smallest number seems to be that reported by Lord 
Hunsdon in 1569. In a letter to the Privy Council, he 
wrote that the garrison of Berwick was five hundred, 
many old and hurt in service and more suitable for an 
almshouse than to be soldiers. 35 In 1559, however, the 
garrison had been 2,190 men, 3G which was shortly reduced 
to 1,850, 37 and by 1564, the number of men was still 
further reduced to a few more than nine hundred. This 
number appears to have remained as the usual garrison of 
Berwick during the rest of the reign of Elizabeth. 38 

In the "Establishment for Berwick" made by Elizabeth 
in 1560, we find some curious provisions regarding the sol- 
diers there. They had to wear jackets of the queen's colors, 
white and green, and were not to wear any other livery 

34 C. B. P., I, 668. Even under James the slew dogs were kept 
by the county to track criminals. Nicholson's "History of West- 
morland and Cumberland," Intro., p. CXXXI. 

ss C. S. P., For., 1569-1571, 568. 

so Ibid, 1559-1560, 402. 

st Sadler State Papers, Vol. II, p. 7. 

ss C. S. P., For., 1564-1565, 185; C. B. P., I, 537, etc. 



98 THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

or cognizance save the queen's. They were not to use any 
vile occupation such as fishing; they were not to use dice 
or cards for money, except within twenty days of Christ- 
inas, nor to play dice at night except they were of the 
Council, 39 etc. 

Holy and Fame Islands were garrisoned by a captain 
from the garrison of Berwick with one hundred men. The 
captain of Tynemouth had a retinue of sixteen gunners 
and servants paid by the queen. The gunner and constable 
of Norham were paid by the queen while the rest of the 
garrison, like the garrisons of Alnwick and Harbottle, was 
maintained by those who held this place from the crown. 
Carlisle had a total garrison, including gunners, porters, 
watchers, etc., of thirty-six in the queen's pay. The Cap- 
tain of Bewcastle and the Land-serjeant of Gilsland each 
maintained a retinue out of their fees. In time of serious 
trouble or danger on the marches, the Privy Council, 
either on its own initiative or in response to appeals from 
the wardens sent troops to the borders from other north- 
ern counties, or else loaned troops from Berwick to the 
Middle or West Marches. For example, in 1559, before 
peace with Scotland was finally settled, the Privy Council 
sent word to the Earl of Northumberland that one thou- 
sand men were to be levied from the borders, five hundred 
from the Bishopric of Durham, two hundred from the 
North Riding of York and three hundred from Richmond- 
shire, 40 and later in the year another levy of seven hun- 
dred was made in Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Shrop- 
shire 41 on account of the activity of the French in Scot- 
land. In 1568, one hundred horse were levied in Durham 
for the Middle March. 42 In 1569, on account of the Rising 

39 C. S. P., For., 1560-1561, 514. 

40 C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 230, 483. 
4i Ibid, 1373. 

42 C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1566-1579, Eliz. XIV, 19. 



THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 99 

in the North there were sudden and extensive levies of 
troops made. 43 During the ten years from 1570 to 1580, 
the ordinary defences of the borders seemed to prove suffi- 
cient for there are few hints of special levies of troops. 
In 1573, Elizabeth sent extra troops to the borders to help 
the Scotch king in his troubles with the Catholic party. 44 
In 1581, the Earl of Huntingdon sent twenty-five hundred 
troops to the borders for the assistance of Her Majesty's 
party in Scotland. 45 On this occasion, Robert Bowes com- 
plained bitterly about Elizabeth's parsimony in connec- 
tion with her relations with Scotland, saying that money 
spent promptly would save ten times as much spent to pro- 
tect the borders later on. 46 The same year, the Privy 
Council instructed Huntingdon to put fifty shot from Ber- 
wick at Harbottle and to supply their places with men 
from Yorkshire. 47 

In 1583, Lord Scrope wrote to Walsingham to refute 
the charge that the troops from Berwick had been but of 
little service, stating that they were always able with these 
foot to do three or four ill turns for one. 48 This detail 
from Berwick to Carlisle was repeated for at least the two 
following years, and in 1585, Sir John Forster also re- 
ceived warrants to support an extra garrison at Harbottle 
Castle in the Middle March. 49 Again in 1587, Davison in- 
formed Lord Scrope that the queen had permitted the lat- 
ter to levy fifty horse against any sudden incursion and 
enclosed warrants for their pay. 00 The necessity for this 

« C. S. P., For., 1569-1571, 508, 613, 616, 686, etc.; Sadler State 
Papers, Vol. II, passim. 

« C. S. P., For., 1572-1574, 1076. 

45 Correspondence of Robert Bowes, Sur. Soc. Pub., Vol. XIV, pp. 
165-166. 

46 Ibid, 252, 263, 283, 296, etc. 

47 C. B. P., I, 519. 

48 Ibid, 158, 182. 

49 Ibid, 219, 270, 306, 320, 373, etc. 
so Ibid, 480. 



100 THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

precaution was the execution of the Queen of Scots. At 
the same time one hundred fifty horse and one hundred 
foot were granted for the Middle March and five hundred 
lay on the borders under command of Lord Hunsdon, 
warden of the East March. 51 

In May, 15S2, Christopher Dacre suggested that the 
queen and the West March should together support a gar- 
rison of one hundred men for six months. 52 In 1593, 
Scrope again asked for forty or fifty horse 53 and in 1596- 
1597, Lord Eure received warrants from time to time for 
the maintenance of eighty horse in the Middle March for 
a year. 54 Lord Willoughby in 1600, protested against 
troops from Berwick being sent to the West March, where, 
he said, Lord Scrope had ten or twelve thousand able men 
with but little opposite. 55 

Elizabeth frequently refused the troops asked for, upon 
which wardens sometimes devised schemes by which extra 
troops could be maintained at little expense to the crown. 
Lord Scrope 's plan to use money raised for distressed sol- 
diers and mariners for the support of a garrison in 
Brough for Henry Leigh has already been mentioned. A 
little later, in 1595, Scrope begged the Privy Council to 
send a letter to the gentlemen of the county to levy such 
sums amongst them as would support Sir Henry Leigh 
and so avoid the necessity of going to the frontier them- 
selves. 50 A similar proposal of a tax for the purpose of 
supporting garrisons at several places is found in a note 
to Burghley written in 1576. 57 On another occasion Lord 
Eure proposed that if the queen would furnish and pay 

si Ibid, 486, 564. 

52 Ibid, 746. 

53 Ibid, 853. 

s* C. B. P., II, 397. 

55 Ibid, 1193. 

56 Ibid, 10. 

57 Ibid. 323. 



THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 101 

for two hundred horsemen for five years, the gentlemen 
of his wardenry would furnish them with horses and 
armor out of their common funds, and besides they them- 
selves would furnish another hundred complete. By this 
arrangement the queen would pay less than one-half the 
total cost, but it does not appear that she accepted the 
offer. 58 

Richard Lowther, as deputy warden of the "West March, 
in 1601, proposed that the men of his wardenry should 
either furnish for its defence one hundred horse chosen by 
themselves or fifty horse chosen by the warden. They re- 
fused to do either, but offered fifty horse to be chosen by 
themselves. Lowther wrote to Cecil asking that the Coun- 
cil commend them to the justices of the peace and the 
worshipful of the county, 59 apparently with the object of 
having them punished in some way. 

The townsmen of Carlisle were willing to render their 
share of border service though legally they did not have 
to do so. Lord Scrope asked that they be permitted to 
purchase some armor from the queen's stores for which 
they would pay part and Scrope would take bonds for the 
balance or re-deliver the munitions. Not long afterward 
the tenants of Brough were granted a similar request. 60 
Later on, Lord Scrope had some trouble in collecting the 
money and complained of the queen's high prices. 61 Lord 
Willoughby in 1600, made a similar request that the peo- 
ple of the East March be permitted to purchase condemned 
arms at reasonable rates. 62 

There is one record of troops levied in the marches for 
service elsewhere. On October 8, 1566, the Privy Council 



ss ibid, 707. 

so Ibid, 1356, 1359, 1362. 

so Ibid, 258, 289. 

6i Ibid, 472. 

62 Ibid, 1152. 



102 THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

ordered that fifty horse for Ireland be levied in the West 
March and a like number in the East March. 63 

As we have already seen the statutes provided that the 
queen from time to time might appoint a commission 
whose business it was to see that the castles and towers 
within twenty miles of the borders were kept in proper 
condition for defence, that enclosures were made in order 
to check the invasions of the Scots by leaving the way of 
retreat less open, and in general to see to the better de- 
fence of that part of the kingdom. The first commission 
appears to have been granted by Elizabeth in 1561 to the 
Earl of Rutland and others. 64 Their report dated August, 
1561, provided that enclosures or crofts of not more than 
two or less than one-half acre should be made of the lands 
adjoining each town or village along the boundary. These 
enclosures were to be surrounded by ditches four feet deep 
and six feet broad, set with double quicksett and with 
some ash trees. Inland fields were to be separated from 
each other with like ditches and hedges, but no enclosure 
was to exceed thirty acres. All commons were to be simi- 
larly ditched and hedged or walled with stone or sur- 
rounded by great trenches. The cost of this work was to 
be borne by the inheritor or tenant for life and was to be 
done as the surveyors should decide. Tenants for seven 
years were to sow hips and haws and shoots of ash trees 
at such places as the surveyors should prescribe. For the 
repair of castles, towers and houses of stone the owners 
should employ the fifth part of their yearly revenue. 

The queen's castles and lands were to be surveyed and 
orders taken for their repair and enclosure. The sur- 
veyors were to certify yearly to the commissioners, before 
October first, how much each man was to ditch and en- 
close each year and before Easter how much had been 

63 C. S. P., Dom, Add., 1566-1579, Eliz. XIII, 33. 
e* C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 370. 



THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 103 

done and the default. Surveyors found negligent were to 
be reported to the queen and council and fined at the 
discretion of the commissioners. 

In the East March the inhabitants within four miles of 
the Tweed were to make, near the fords of that river, a 
main ditch six feet deep and eight broad, and were to cut 
aslope the hills adjoining and make them so steep that no 
passage may be made by them. In the Middle March near 
Harbottle, there being many passes for horsemen, the peo- 
ple of Coquetdale were to enclose as much as was possible 
of their fields in a similar manner with walls of stone and 
by trenches. The wardens were to assist the surveyors, 
and every month or six weeks examine what was done 
and were to certify any defaults to the President of the 
North and the commissioners. Delinquent freeholders 
were to be fined. The surveyors were to provide carriage, 
wood, workmen, quicksett, etc., and were to pay according 
to the custom of Northumberland. 65 

The program laid down by the commissioners appears 
satisfactory enough, but about a year later, Lord Rutland 
wrote to Cecil saying that nothing had been done about 
enclosures, although for that year only 3,144 acres were 
to be enclosed, and that the state of the queen's lands was 
a bad example to the rest of the county. 66 The delibera- 
tion with which the provisions of the act were enforced 
was probably due to the opposition of the inhabitants of 
the marches, for in 1569, a mob of three hundred under- 
took to overthrow one of the enclosures so made. 67 

The energies of the government were apparently di- 
rected elsewhere for fifteen years or so, for the next defi- 
nite piece of information is found in a note of 1580 by Sir 

85 Bowes' Collections of Border Causes No. 5 in State Papers, Bor- 
ders, XX, 76; C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 370. 
ee C. S. P., For., 1561-1562, 680. 
67 C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1566-1579, Eliz. XIV, 87. 



104 THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

John Forster, who speaks of a commission of survey hav- 
ing been appointed in 1563, at which very little was done. 
In January, 1581, there was an objection raised to a pro- 
posed bill for fortifying the borders, the plea being that 
its passage would make tenants discontented and that the 
devising of remedies might encourage complaints. How- 
ever in the same year Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, and a 
long list of others were named as commissioners for bor- 
der affairs. 68 The reports show many of the houses and 
castles decayed, among them Norham, Wark, Hexham and 
Naworth, 69 probably as a result of the rebellion of the 
northern earls in 156G-1570. 

In 1583, three separate commissions were named, four- 
teen gentlemen being appointed to view the decays and 
defaults in the defences of the East March, and twelve 
each for similar purposes in the Middle and West Marches. 
There was the usual sequel of voluminous reports, but it 
does not appear that the improvement resulting from the 
work of these commissions was any greater than before. 70 

In 1585, Sir Robert Bowes was sent to view or survey 
the borders. Norham appears to have been repaired since 
1581 as it is described in the survey as being well fur- 
nished. On the whole the condition of the forts and towers 
has not much improved. Bowes states as the cause of the 
decay that the owners withdrew to farms within the coun- 
try where they could live more quietly, safely and cheaply 
than on the "uttermost border." The cost of a barnekin 
of timber is given as two hundred marks and to build a 
tower, one hundred pounds. Bowes thinks that some en- 
couragement to build should be given through competent 
rewards, and that recompense be also given to owners 
whose forts have been destroyed by wars. 71 

es C. B. P., I, 82, 83. 

69 C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz, XXVII, 44. 

70 C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. XXVIII, 23, 25. 

7i Bowes' Collections of Border Causes, No. 16, in State Papers, 
Borders, XX, 76. 



THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 105 

In 1595, a general commission for investigating border 
causes was given to Sir William Bowes, nephew of Robert 
Bowes, 72 but in 1596, he mentions that he has been a com- 
missioner for the last four years, which avouIcI date his 
first commission in 1593. 73 There is no indication in the 
records that much was done that would tend to bring 
about a betterment of conditions, and there was certainly 
not enough done to bring about a satisfactory solution of 
the problem of protecting the English from the Scotch, 
for as late as 1600, Lord Scrope wrote to the Privy Coun- 
cil suggesting measures for reform. Amongst them he 
urged that a legier commission to be renewed yearly should 
be issued to gentlemen of integrity to inquire and certify 
decays and defaults to the warden. 74 

Running steadily through the whole reign of Elizabeth, 
suggestions of various sorts are found amongst the state 
papers which aim at improvements in the conduct of bor- 
der affairs. These sometimes only point out the troubles, 
leaving the remedies to be devised by others. In some 
cases, however, there are recommendations which, if car- 
ried out, as they sometimes were, would bring about 
an advance toward law and order. The first sugges- 
tion was offered in December, 1558, by the Earl of 
"Westmorland. He thought that the East and Middle 
Marches should have separate wardens. 75 The Marquis 
of Winchester in 1559, urged that Norham and AVark be 
fortified, a suggestion that was adopted, and further that 
the ground within ten miles of the border be divided into 
five-mark holdings and the tenants compelled to provide 
horse and armor, which was not adopted. 76 Lord Wharton 

72 c. B. P., II, 163. 

73 Ibid, 449, 814, 870; C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. 
XXXII, 83. 

74 C. B. P., II, 1192. 

75 C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 167. This idea was also suggested 
by Sadler. Sadler State Papers, Vol. II, p. 13. 

76 C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 1230. 



106 THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

recommended that the borders should have a governor of 
great power, that the chief houses should be the queen's; 
land should be granted for the support of officers ; a coun- 
cil should be established, of whom two were to be learned 
in the law; all offices should be held during the pleasure 
of the queen instead of for life ; that days of truce should 
be held often ; and warden courts at least twice a year ; in- 
heritors and officers should be resident, and that courts of 
oyer and terminer were to be held at York, Newcastle and 
Carlisle. 77 Sir John Forster said in 1561, that some ten- 
ants had absorbed the lands of others and that each tenant 
should have no more land than he was accustomed to have. 78 
Again, in 1575, Forster wrote more extensively. He urged 
as causes of decay the sale of horses into Scotland, and 
leases held at second or third hand. The first taker pays 
two or three years' fine and the sub-tenant ten years' fine 
and so are utterly unable to keep horse or armor. Again, 
when a man has a tenement big enough for one and has 
two sons, he divides it between them. 79 This is elsewhere 
in the state papers spoken of as a custom of the dales of 
Tyne and Rede. 80 In 1580, Forster again has a list of 
reasons for defaults, among which are "half -lands" or 
divided inheritances; neglect of owners; small holdings, 
excessive fines and " gressums, " S1 and raised rents, in 
one case the rent was increased from forty shillings to five 
pounds. 82 Another report of the same year complained 
that castles and houses of defence were in the hands of non- 
residents and that lands were let to Scots who could pay 
higher rents than the English since their goods were not 
stolen. The complaint further said that the land was not 

"Ibid, 1560-1561, 551. 

78 Ibid, 1561-1562, 441. 

70 Ibid, 1575-1577, 167. 

ss Ibid, 268. 

si A gressum was the sum paid for the renewal of a lease. 

82 C. B. P., I, 50. 



THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 107 

planted and sowed, but given to sheep and so would not 
support so many people and, finally, that the long peace 
was yet another cause of the decay. Still another report 
(of 1579) says that the indefinite power of the warden 
and the uncertainty of march treason are the greatest 
plagues of the borders since the wardens and borderers 
never agree as to the cause of march treason. 83 

In 1587, there was a suggestion that the borders should 
be fortified by means of "inskons" or "inskers, " an 
earthen redoubt or breastwork, which was to extend along 
the northern boundary of England. If this was not pos- 
sible it was suggested that the Roman wall be restored. 84 

Lord Thomas Scrope proposed in 1593 that the warden 
should have fuller power to command arrests; that the 
order for watches should be renewed and kept; that the 
statute for hue and cry should be enforced ; and that inter- 
marriages with Scots should be forbidden. Suspected 
persons were to be put in jail; Scots were not to be per- 
mitted to come into Westmorland or Cumberland above 
Carlisle without the license of the warden. 85 Lord Eure, in 
1595, suggested that the queen should remove all officers 
connected with the Scots and put Yorkshire or inland gen- 
tlemen in their places, 86 — a proposition that would have 
depleted his march of its gentry and which in all prob- 
ability was the real cause of the charges which were 
brought against him and which led to his resignation in 
1598. The same year, 1595, the Master of Ordnance of 
the North wrote to Burghley stating that though he was in 
charge of the ordnance at Carlisle he had no control over 
the gunners there and that when the places fell vacant, 
the queen granted them for life to unsuitable and non- 
resident men, and urged a change in the method of ap- 

83 C. B. P., I, 75 ; Cott. Ms. Calig., B. VIII, f . 400. 
s*Cott. Ms. Calig., C. II, f. 490; C. B. P., I, 581. 

85 Ibid, 834. 

86 C. B. P., II, 131. 



108 THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 

pointment. 87 The next year Lord Eure suggested that as 
the tenants were unable to provide horse and armor the 
freeholders and copyholders of both the queen and sub- 
jects should bear that cost. 88 In 1598, Sir Robert Bowes 
suggested the even division of Northumberland, from the 
border to the Tyne, and thence to the sea. Over each di- 
vision a deputy was to be placed and these were to divide 
the fee of the Warden of the Middle March, the whole to 
be under the charge of the Governor of Berwick assisted 
by a council from the borders. 89 In 1600, Lord Scrope 
formulated a new list of suggestions which included many 
of the old ones. Foreign marriages were to be march 
treason; Englishmen dwelling in Scotland were to return 
by a certain date or be treated as traitors, and the Graemes 
in the Debatable Lands were to be dealt with by statute 
as they usurped royal jurisdiction and liberties. 90 Even 
religion received some share of attention. In 1597, it was 
proposed that part of the surplus of abbey lands, tithes 
and unappropriated parsonages in Northumberland was 
to be employed in maintaining preachers and three gram- 
mar schools; all non-resident ministers and those who 
could not preach, with benefices worth clearly forty pounds 
a year were to be removed, and no recusant or any one 
whose wife was a recusant was to have rule anywhere. 91 

Perhaps the most interesting suggestions are those pro- 
posing colonizing schemes. For instance, Lord Scrope sug- 
gested to Lord Burghley, in 1596, that the Graemes be de- 
ported to other parts of the kingdom and their places 
filled with inland men. 92 This appears to be the result of 
their aid to Buccleugh in the attack on Carlisle Castle and 

87 c. B. P., II, 81. 
ss Ibid, 268. 

89 Ibid, 922. 

90 Ibid, 192. 
9i Ibid, 746. 
92 Ibid, 253. 



THE DEFENCE OF THE BORDERS 109 

rescue of "Kinmont Willie" earlier in the year, and 
seems to be the first mention of the plan which was later, 
in 1606 and 1607, actually carried out by James. 93 The 
same year (1596), Mr. Fern, who was captain of a company 
at Berwick, proposed to Burghley that colonies should be 
transferred to Tynedale from the other parts of the king- 
dom. 94 In 1597, Burghley made some notes to be consid- 
ered by Bowes on his tour of inspection in the North. 
Among other things the latter was to inquire how many 
more were living on the borders than the natural soil 
of the country could maintain; Burghley thought that it 
might be necessary to have some multitude of the idle 
people sent to other countries or to have them serve else- 
where; otherwise, Bowes was to consider if the multitude 
living idle should not be forced to work and till the 
ground. 95 

In many cases these suggestions made from time to time 
by individuals became the policy of the government and 
were carried out as well as possible in treaties, statutes, 
instructions, and regulations by the commissioners, as has 
already been seen. And while the provisions so laid down 
were not always strictly enforced still there seems to have 
been continuous efforts on the part of the authorities to 
improve the administration of Berwick and the Marches. 

93 Muncaster Mss., Hist. Mss. Com., 10th Report, App. IV, pp. 
254 to 262, etc. One of these documents is a petition by the 
Graemes to be sent to some other part of the kingdom ( p. 254 ) . In 
July, 1587, the 11th parliament of James VI passed an act providing 
for the removal of the Graemes to the inland. 

9i C. B. P., II, 323. 

as Ibid, 547. 



CHAPTER VIII 

BORDER FINANCE 

It is not possible to give more than the approximate cost 
to the crown of border government. The state papers con- 
tain many errors of account and are inextricably confused. 
The extraordinary expenses, such as were incurred through 
Elizabeth's interference in Scotch troubles, or the rebel- 
lion of the Northern earls, or the preparations made to 
resist the Armada, should not properly be included in the 
cost of the defence of the borders. On the other hand the 
cost of maintaining the garrison and works at Berwick 
would seem fairly to belong in such a list of expenses. 
The same may be said of the cost of the extra garrisons 
which were from time to time levied by the wardens espe- 
cially to protect the borders from the raids of the Scotch. 
In the cost of the borders to the crown should also be in- 
cluded the amount of the taxes (subsidies, and fifteenths 
and tenths), which were regularly remitted by the pro- 
visions of the statutes, as well as the reduction in rents 
which the queen allowed to many of her tenants in consid- 
eration of special preparation for defence to be made by 
them. 

The amount allowed by the queen to the Middle and 
"West Marches seems to have varied but little. 

In 1560, the charge of the Middle March was £726, 13s. 
4d. and of the West March £1,000/ but in 1563, after the 
appointment of Sir John Forster and of Lord Scrope, the 
charge is given as £1,030 4s. 2d. for the Middle March and 
£1,046 6s. 7d. for the West March. 2 At the time of Lord 

iC. S. P., For., 1559-1560, 715. 

2 Burghley Papers, Haynes, I, pp. 397-401. 

110 



BORDER FINANCE 111 

Scrope's death, June 13, 15S2, he was receiving £124 as 
the Warden of the West March, and £221 as Captain of 
Carlisle. These fees were at that time paid to the warden 
without their use being directed, but it was the custom in 
earlier years to state how much of the total was to be paid 
to the warden Serjeants and other officers. 3 

Sir John Forster for his fee as warden received at his 
appointment £333 6s. 8d. 4 To this was added £26 13s. 4d. 
for the keeping of Tynedale and Redesdale and after 1571, 
a further sum of £6 7s. as bailiff and receiver of the for- 
feited, lands of the Earl of Westmorland, who had been 
attainted for his part in the Rising of the North. 5 Lord 
Hunsdon on his appointment as warden of the Middle 
March was granted a total fee of £357 6s. 8d. 6 

The difference between the fees of the wardens and the 
charges for the two marches is made up by adding to the 
personal fee of the warden of the West March the cost of 
the garrison of the Castle, City and Citadel of Carlisle, 
and the fees of the Captain of Bewcastle. The fees of the 
Keeper of Harbottle Castle, the Land-serjeant of Tyne- 
dale and Redesdale, the Master of Ordnance for the North 
Parts, the Captain of Tynemouth Castle and the Captain 
of Norham Castle, with the allowance for their officers and 
servants, and the fee of the Captain of Holy and Fame 
Islands were included in the cost of the Middle March. 7 

The fee of the warden of the East March at the begin- 
ning of the reign of Elizabeth was 700 marks and of the 
Captain of the Castle of Berwick 100 marks. Besides 
these, there is a long list of officers, garrisons, and serv- 

s Sadler State Papers, II, p. 21; C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, 
Eliz. XXXII, 55; C. B. P., I, 781, 787. 

* Sadler State Papers, II, p. 21. The fee was 500 marks, 
e C. B. P., II, 122. 

6 Rymer, Vol. VII, pt. i, p. 6. 

7 Burghley Papers, Haynes, I, pp. 397-401. It is curious that 
Norham should be included financially in the Middle March, al- 
though it was geographically in the East March. 



112 BORDER FINANCE 

ants allowed by the "Establishment" which brings the 
total charges up to £2,776 ls. s In 1563, the total fees of 
the governor and warden were £890 13s. 4d., 9 but this was 
probably to permit the Earl of Bedford to pay a deputy 
warden and a deputy governor. By 1591, Lord Huns- 
don's fee as warden had been increased to £424 per year 
and his fee as Governor of Berwick to £666 13s. 4d., a 
total of £1,090 13s. 4d. 10 

At the beginning of her reign, Elizabeth had a gar- 
rison at Berwick of nearly two thousand men, with 
total charges, including the fees of the warden and 
officers and including the cost of fortification and re- 
pairs of about £25,000 per year. 11 In 1560, this ex- 
traordinary garrison was reduced about one-third, so 
that the total annual cost of Berwick and the East March 
was approximately £23,000. 12 In the same year the 
charges for the works, which included the repair of the 
fortifications and the up-keep of the bridge over the Tweed 
was £8,020 for six months to September, and for the last 
quarter an additional sum of £2,678. 10s. lid. 13 In 1561, 
it cost nearly £30,000 to pay the garrison and workmen 14 
and the cost was about the same in 1562 and 1563. 15 The 
improved relations with Scotland led to efforts to diminish 
this expense. As a result of these efforts Sir Valentine 
Brown made in 1563, a proposition for a new establish- 
ment for Berwick by which the total charge for the offi- 

s C. S. P., For., 1563, 409. 

9 C. B. P., I, 537. 

IOC. B. P., II, 1308; "Charges of the Crown Revenue," pp. 40, 41. 

ii Sadler State Papers, II, pp. 7, 8, 11; C. S. P., For., 1558-1559, 
601; ibid, 1559-1560, 402, 454, 455, 1228. 

12 C. S. P., For., 1560-1561, 541, 542, 543, 604, 690; ibid, 1564- 
1565, 185. 

is Ibid, 590, 913. 

14 Ibid, 1561-1562, 749. 

is Ibid, 1562, 423; ibid, 1563, 873; ibid, 1564-1565, 217, 185. 



BOEDER FINANCE 113 

cers and garrison would be reduced to £14,018 19s. 7d., 18 
and an alternative establishment was suggested by which 
the cost might be still further reduced to something less 
than £9,000. 1T The actual total of the charges for the gar- 
rison as reduced is given as £12,100 15s. 10d. 18 Thousands 
of pounds were still being spent on the works, so that the 
total payments for this year were nearly £20,000. 19 In 
1565, owing to increased expenditure on fortifications the 
charges amounted to over £30,000, — £18,000 for the garri- 
son and £13,000 for the works, and the next year the cost 
was about the same. 20 

During the period of the Rising in the North, the ex- 
penses at Berwick and elsewhere along the border rose 
enormously for a few months, 21 the total amount increas- 
ing to £60,000. 

In the year 1575, the charges for the garrison at Ber- 
wick were nearly £13,500, 22 and in 1577, the sum had in- 
creased to £22,622. 23 Another account shows the expendi- 
ture for works for two and one-half years prior to May, 
1578, to have been about £5,000. 24 The treasurer of Ber- 
wick, who had charge of the disbursements for the garri- 
son and works reported on the 29th of September, 1578, 
that he had expended £49,751 18s. 8%d., in three years, 
giving a total of about £16,500 per year; 25 still another ac- 
count gives a total payment of a little over £68,000, in four 

is Ibid, 1563, 409. 

i-Ibid, 1350. 

is Ibid, 1564-1565, 185. 

19 Ibid, 708. 

20 Ibid, 1566-1568, 592, 627, 628, 629, 739. 

2i C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1566-1579, Eliz. XVII, 8; entries for years 
1569-1570, passim; Sadler State Papers, Vol. II, pp. 84-187. 

22 C. S. P., For., 1575-1577, 379. 

23 C. B. P., I, 20; C. S. P., For., 1575-1577, 824. 

24 C. B. P., I, 28. 

25 Ibid, 35. 



114 BORDER FINANCE 

and one-half years, which averages about the same amount 
per year. This sum seems to include from £2,000 to £2,- 
500 spent each year on the fortifications, since the regular 
charge for the East March and Berwick for 1578 was 
£15,000. 26 

In 1581, there is a sudden reduction in the amount 
spent for works to £1,148, 27 which reduction is continued 
for some years since the total amount spent on repairs 
from October, 1582, to May 1, 1583, was only £24 lis. 28 
In 1585, the payments for garrisons and works were £16,- 
922 Is. 6d. 29 In 1588, the garrison at Berwick had been 
reduced in cost to £12,562 per year 30 but by 1590, the total 
had risen again to over £15,000, 31 of which the works cost 
£1,117. 32 In 1591, the total charge was again reduced to 
£14,353, 33 

By 1593, the payments to the soldiers and officers were 
made semi-annually, 34 and for that year the total of two 
payments is about £15,000, for 1594, £14,500, for 1595, 
£15,000, 35 and for the rest of the reign of Elizabeth the 
cost of Berwick and the East March remained at about 
the latter figure. 

In addition to these sums the Master of the Ordnance 
in the North was allowed from the exchequer sums vary- 
ing from £900 to £1,300, as is shown by memoranda which 
appear from time to time in the state papers. 36 

26 Ibid, 27; State Papers, Borders, XX, ff. 29-36; "Collection of 
Ordinances for the Royal Household," p. 261. 

27 C. B. P., I, 108. 

28 Ibid, 154. 

29 Ibid. 

so Ibid, 648. 
3i Ibid, 687. 

32 Ibid, 686. 

33 Ibid, 735. 

34 Ibid, 655, 669. 

ss Ibid, 869, 894, 981; C. B. P., II, 190; "Charges of the Crown 
Revenue," pp. 40, 41. 
36 C. B. P., I, 19, 85. 



BORDER FINANCE 115 

A percentage of Elizabeth's pension to the King of 
Scotland may, with a certain propriety, also be charged 
to the cost of the borders. In February, 1588, for ex- 
ample, Lord Hunsdon wrote to Burghley to request him 
not to haggle over £5,000 to the Scotch king since his 
friendship is cheap at the price. The soldiers on the 
borders had already cost £1,000 and would cost £10,000 by 
Michaelmas if she stuck over it. 37 In a succeeding letter 
Hunsdon stated that he had asked Carmichael, one of the 
Scotch wardens, what were James' wants and the an- 
swers suggested were, that James should be made the sec- 
ond person in the realm, and that he should receive £5,000 
per year. 38 Just what understanding was finally reached 
is not certain, but in the eight years from 1586 to 1593, 
James received a total of £27,000, and in 1594, £6,000. 
He claimed that he should have received £1,000 per year, 
but the queen denied having granted it. 39 Perhaps Rob- 
ert Bowes' complaints of Elizabeth's parsimony refers to 
earlier suggestions of a pension to the King of Scots. 40 

Besides these payments there are from time to time 
other payments on account of special levies of troops for 
border defence. When these were sent from Berwick the 
expense was, of course, included in the charges of that 
garrison. Sometimes, however, there was a special war- 
rant under the Privy Seal authorizing the warden to em- 
ploy, and the receiver of the county, or some other official, 
to pay these extra troops. Of such a sort was the permis- 
sion granted to Sir John Forster in 1585, to maintain a 
garrison at Harbottle for three months at a cost of £322, 41 

37 Ibid, 588. 

38 Ibid, 589. 

39 Ibid, 988 ; Letters of Elizabeth and James, Cam. Soc. Pub., Vol. 
79, pp. 29-3C 

40 Correspondence of Robert Bowes, Surtees Soc. Pub., XIV, pp. 
252, 260, 283, 296, etc. (1582). 

4i C. B. P., I, 282. 



116 BORDER FINANCE 

and a similar garrison in the West March in that year 
which cost the queen from £300 to £400. 42 

The garrison at Berwick was provided with food 
through a "Victualler" who was under contract to furnish 
the soldiers with food at a fixed price. For his services 
he was allowed a fee of twenty shillings a day for fifteen 
hundred men, and an extra fee if he provided for more 
than that number. 43 If his supply was short he issued 
tickets which were supposed to be equal in value to the 
food, but which were actually taken at a heavy discount 
by the towns-people. The victualler kept an account with 
each man and at pay-day was paid by the treasurer the 
amount of his accounts, which sum was deducted from the 
pay of the soldiers. 44 While provisions were cheap there 
was no trouble, but when they became scarce, as they did 
in the latter part of Elizabeth's reign, the victualler is- 
sued more tickets than provisions, 45 especially for the 
dearer foods, thus almost causing the garrison at Berwick 
to mutiny. 46 The difficulty was finally solved by allowing 
the victualler an extra sum from the exchequer which 
was intended to make up for his loss in supplying goods 
to the soldiers at less than the market prices. In 1587, 
this surcharge was about £2,000, and in 15S7, it was £2,- 
316. 47 While these are the only definite records of such 
payments it seems probable that there were others, espe- 
cially in the later '90 's. 

It may be assumed that the cost of the Middle and West 
Marches did not vary very far from £1,000 each for the 
whole of the reign of Elizabeth, and that Berwick and the 
East March cost about £30,000 up to about 1575, giving a 

« Ibid, 219, 270, 306, 320, 373. 

43 Ibid, 13, 875. 

44 Ibid, 401, 829. 

45 C. S. P., For., 1572-1574, 680; C. B. P., I, 515, 797. 

46 C. B. P., I, 797, 823; C. B. P., II, 9, 12, 24, etc. 

47 C. B. P., I, 797; C. B. P., II, 95, 770. 



BORDER FINANCE 117 

total charge on the Borders, exclusive of any extraordinary 
expenses, of about £32,000. From 1575 to 1584, the total 
expense of the officers and garrisons at Berwick and in the 
marches seems to have been about £18,000. From 1585 on 
this cost was increased by the annual pension to King 
James to about £22,000. About £2,000 should be added 
to this sum in those years in which a surcharge was al- 
lowed for victualling Berwick. 

Military expeditions, which cannot properly be charged 
to border expenses but which undoubtedly did their share 
in reducing English losses through raids were also expen- 
sive affairs. The state papers give the charges for the 
army in Scotland in 1559-1560 as £131,866. 18 The rebel- 
lion of the northern earls cost to suppress over £26,000, 
according to the state papers and not quite £21,000 ac- 
cording to the statement of the paymaster, Sir Ralph 
Sadler. 49 The preparations in the north for defense 
against the armada cost about four thousand pounds. 50 
Military assistance given from time to time to the King 
of Scots also cost Elizabeth considerable money. 51 In 
1573, she paid nearly £7,500 on this account, and in 1581, 
£2,000. 5 ~ 

Before 1576, there seems not to have been any assigned 
source from which the garrison at Berwick was to be paid. 
For example, there was in 1560 a warrant to Roger Alford 
to pay twenty thousand pounds to Sir Valentine Brown, 
treasurer at Berwick, from the treasure received from Sir 



48 C. S. P., For., 1560-1561, 374. Joseph Stevenson, the editor 
of that volume, estimates the cost at £232,398; (preface, p. IX). 
This estimate includes the indirect as well as the direct cost. 

49 C. S. P., For., 1569-1571, 1087; Sadler State Papers, II, pp. 
161-187; C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1566-1579, Eliz. XV, 133. 

so C. B. P., I, 590, 591, 592. 
5i C. S. P., For., 1572-1574, 1076. 

52 Correspondence of Robert Bowes, Surtees Soc. Pub., XIV, pp. 
165, 166. 



118 BORDER FINANCE 

Thomas Gresham, Her Majesty's agent in Flanders. 53 In 
1563, of the total charge, over £2,000 came from the ex- 
chequer and over £12,000 from the receivers of various 
counties by warrants under the Privy Seal. 54 

By the establishment of 1576, however, it was provided 
that the money for Berwick was to be provided as follows, 
— by the Receiver of Her Majesty's lands in Lincolnshire, 
£3,000 ; by the Receiver of York, £8,000 ; and, by the Re- 
ceiver of Northumberland, Richmond and Durham, 
£4,000. 55 The share of Yorkshire was paid in two instal- 
ments of £3,000 and £5,000 and appears to have been about 
two-thirds of the total receipts from that county. 56 Any 
additional sums for works, and extra charges for victual- 
ling, were usually allowed out of the exchequer or by 
warrant under the Privy Seal to the receivers of coun- 
ties. 57 

The officers of the Middle March appear to have been 
paid by the Receivers of Northumberland. 58 The treas- 
urer of the West March is stated to have been the Receiver 
of the county of Cumberland, 59 but there is a petition to 
Lord Burghley on behalf of Lord Scrope in which he begs 
that the Captain of Carlisle may be paid at Carlisle by the 
Deputy Receiver of Cumberland instead of at Barney 
Castle by the Receiver of the Bishopric. 60 At times the 
Receiver of York was also called upon to pay troops in the 
West March. 61 

53 c. B. P., I, l. 
s* C. S. P., For., 1563, 873. 

55 State Papers, Borders, XIX, f. 220; C. B. P., I, 537, 687, 735, 
798, 981; C. B. P., II, 85, 926, 931, etc. 
se C. B. P., I, 973; C. B. P., II, 185. 

57 C. B. P., I, 28, 58, 706. 

58 C. S. P., For., 1563, 996. 

59 C. S. P., Dom., Add., 1580-1625, Eliz. XXXII, 55; C. B. P., 
I, 158, 270. 

eo C. B. P., II, 202. 
6i Ibid, 306. 



BORDER FINANCE 119 

The sums of money that the towns and counties spent 
on border defence through taxes raised by themselves has 
not been determined. The amount that the crown sacrificed 
in uncollected subsidies, and fifteenths and tenths may be 
measured by the amounts raised from these sources in the 
earlier years of James. This has been estimated for the 
border counties at about £1,000, which should be added to 
the amount regularly expended by the queen on the bor- 
ders to get the total cost of administering their govern- 
ment. The total sum varies from about £23,000 to nearly 
£35,000, exclusive of extraordinary charges, which is from 
five to eight per cent of the average regular receipts of 
the crown during the reign of Elizabeth. 62 

It is a fair assumption that, in the eyes of the queen 
and her council, the safety of her kingdom depended in 
large degree on the safety and order of Berwick and the 
northern marches. No other reason would seem to jus- 
tify the comparative willingness with which Elizabeth 
reconciled herself to expend so much of her revenue on 
these bleak and wild northern counties. 

62 "An estimate of the revenue ... of his Majesty" [James 
I]. The writer gives the average annual receipts of the crown from 
Michaelmas, anno 38 Eliz. to Michaelmas, anno 43 Eliz. as £450,759, 
lis. 9|d.— Cott. Ms. Titus 3 B IV, ff. 285-294. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Sources 

State Papers, Borders. 

The state papers relating to the history of the borders during 
the reign of Elizabeth are contained in forty-two volumes entitled 
State Papers, Borders. The border papers for previous reigns are 
included in the general collection of state papers, usually under 
the titles "Foreign" or "Scotland," although the documents them- 
selves may relate entirely to domestic matters. The contents of 
Vols. I to XIX of those at present bound under the title "Border 
Papers" were originally distributed chronologically amongst the 
State Papers, Foreign, up to the year 1577 inclusive, and were cal- 
endared under that title. These have since been separated from 
the collection of State Papers, Foreign, and are now in the same 
series with the later border papers. The remaining twenty-three 
volumes of the series are calendared in the two volumes of the 
Calendar of Border Papers. Volume XLII, the last of the series, 
is not in its proper chronological order. It contains only a long 
treatise on the fortification of the borders, which should probably 
be dated 1587 and is calendared in C. B. P., I, 581. 

These papers must form the foundation of any work dealing 
with Border history during the reign of Elizabeth. 
Calendar of Border Papers, Vol. I, from 1560 to 1594; Vol. II, 
from 1595 to 1603 ; edited by Joseph Bain, General Register 
House, Edinburgh, 1894-1896. 

These volumes contain abstracts of the papers contained in 
volumes XX to XLII of the State Papers, Borders, spoken of 
above. On the whole, the second volume is better calendared 
than the first, in which are found some inaccuracies. Only 22 
of the papers in Vol. I are dated prior to 1578. 
Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, 12 vols., from 1558 to 1577. 

These volumes contain the calendar of the State Papers, 
Borders, contained in volumes I to XIX spoken of above. The 
documents are less fully calendared than in the Calendar of 
Border Papers. One cannot be sure in using this collection 
whether a given document will be found amongst State Pa- 
pers, Borders, or State Papers, Foreign. 
Acts of the Privy Council. New Series, from 1542 to 1600; edited 
by J. R. Dasent, 16 volumes, London, 1890-1908. 

In the records of the Privy Council is found constant ref- 
erence to border matters. 

120 



BIBLIOGRAPHY .121 

Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Addenda, for the years 1547 
to 1565, 1566 to 1579, and 1580 to 1625; edited by Mary A. 
E. Green. 

These calendars describe many documents which appear to 
have been taken from the State Papers, Borders, for official 
purposes and to have never been returned to their proper 
places. The volume 1566 to 1579 contains much material for 
the Rising in the North in 1569 to 1570. 

Documents and Records Illustrating the History of Scotland and 
the Transactions between the Crowns of Scotland and Eng- 
land; collected and edited by Sir Francis Palgrave, 2 vols. 
Commissioners of the Public Records, London, 1837. 

Contains a wealth of material for the diplomatic relations 
of England and Scotland and the internal affairs of these 
countries as they affected border history. 

Calendar of State Papers Relating to Scotland; edited by Markham 
J. Thorpe, Esq., 2 vols. Vol. I, 1509 to 1589, Vol. IT, 1590 
to 1603; London, 1858. 

These give useful hints as to where material may be found, 
but the calendars are too brief to be of much greater use. 
Not a great deal of material for border history is to be found 
in these papers. 

Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1st series, 14 vols. 
Vols. I and II, edited by J. H. Barton; Vols. Ill, etc., edited 
by David Masson. General Register House, Edinburgh, 1877 
to 1895. Volumes I to VI cover the reign of Elizabeth. 

The Hamilton Papers. Letters and Papers Illustrating the Polit- 
ical Relations of England and Scotland in the Sixteenth Cen- 
tury, formerly in possession of the Dukes of Hamilton. Ed- 
ited by Joseph Bain; Vol. I, 1532 to 1543; Vol. II, 1543 to 
1590; General Register House, Edinburgh, 1890, 1892. 

Volume II contains much material for border history. The 
papers are given in full and deal largely with English affairs. 

Statutes of the Realm, Eleven Volumes, Record Commission. 

Rymer's Foedera (Hague Edition). "Foedera, Conventiones, Lit- 
erae," etc., by Thomas Rymer, 3rd Edition, 10 volumes, includ- 
ing index. The Hague, 1741. 

Sadler State Papers. "The State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph 
Sadler, Knight Banneret." Edited by Arthur Clifford, Esq., 2 
volumes, Edinburgh, 1809. 

Usually quoted as edited by Sir Walter Scott, who added only 
a life of Sadler and a few notes. Volume I extends to May, 
1560; — volume II, from 1560 to circa 1584. There are 
some undated papers in the collection. Important for Ber- 
wick and the borders during the War of the Reformation in 
Scotland and the Rising in the North. Volume II contains 



122 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Sadler's accounts as paymaster of the army in 1569-1570. 
The papers are given in full. 
Burghley Papers. "Collection of State Papers relating to affairs 
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, transcribed from the original 
papers and other authentic memorials never before published, 
left by William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and deposited in the 
library of Hatfield House." Volume I, 1542 to 1570, edited 
by Samuel Haynes, London, 1740. Volume II, 1571 to 1596, 
edited by William Murdin, London, 1759. 

This work contains considerable material of value for bor- 
der history, principally in the form of memoranda. It is 
usually quoted as Burghley Papers, Haynes (or Murdin). 
Much of the material is included in the following: 
Historical Manuscripts Commission : 

9th Report: — Calendar of the Mss. of the Marquis of Salis- 
bury ("Hatfield House Papers"; "Cecil Mss.") Eleven parts, 
1888 to 1906, covering the period from 1306 to 1601. 

These papers contain a great quantity of material to serve 
for border history. 

10th Report: — Appendix IV. "Muncaster Mss." for the 
work of the Commission for the Borders under James I. 

15th Report: — Appendix IV. "Town Records of Berwick." 
Fragmentary and not of much importance. 
Ellis' Original Letters. "Original Letters Illustrative of English 
History," etc., by Henry Ellis; Series I, 3 volumes; Series II, 
4 volumes; Series III, 4 volumes. London, 1825-1846. 

A miscellaneous collection of correspondence without any 
particular arrangement. Contains considerable material es- 
pecially useful for the cultural history of England, including 
some correspondence relating to the borders. 
Leges Marchiarum or Border Law. Containing several original 
Articles and Treaties made and agreed upon by the Commis- 
sioners of the Respective Kings of England and Scotland, etc. 
With a Preface and an Appendix of Charters and Records 
relating to the said Treaties, by William (Nicholson), Lord 
Bishop of Carlisle; first edition, London, 1705. 

Contains most of the treaties concerning the borders, but 
only two of those made during the reign of Elizabeth. The 
Appendix contains the list of watches and other regulations 
provided for by Lord Wharton in 1555, with a list of names 
of surveyors for enclosures, etc. 
A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Government 
of the Royal Household Made in Divers Reigns, etc. Society 
of Antiquaries, London, 1790. 

The contents of this volume are sufficiently explained by its 
title. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 123 

The Charges Issuing Forth of the Crown Revenues of England, and 
the Dominion of Wales, etc., by Captain Lazarus Haward, etc., 
London, 1660. 

Purports to be a complete detailed list of the regular ex- 
penditures, civic and military. The list is shown by internal 
evidence to be of the latter part of the reign of Elizabeth, 
thought it is undated. Inaccurate in places, but useful. 
Surtees Society Publications. 

Volume 14, Correspondence of Robert Bowes of Aske, Esq., edited 
by J. Stevenson, London, 1841. 

Contains some material concerning the borders, but is prin- 
cipally connected with negotiations with Scotland. 
Volume 44, part i, The Priory of Hexham, — its Chronicles, En- 
dowments and annals, edited by James Raine, Durham, 1864. 

Contains material to serve for a history of Hexham and 
Hexhamshire. 
Volume 68, "Household Books of Sir William Howard," edited by 
James Raine. 

From this volume can be gathered a good account of the 
daily life of a northern noble in the period immediately suc- 
ceeding Elizabeth. Lord Howard was never Warden as has 
been erroneously stated. 
Volume 93, "Extracts from the Records of The Merchant Adven- 
tures of Newcastle-upon-Tyne," edited by F. W. Denby, 2 vol- 
umes, Durham, 1S95-1899. 

This contains the records of "The Merchant Adventures of 
Newcastle," a body which had been separately organized by 
permission of the Society of Merchant Adventurers of London. 
Camden Society Publications. 

Volume 40. A Commentary of the Services and Charges of Wil- 
liam, Lord Grey of Wilton, K. G., by his son. Edited by Sir 
Philip de Malpas Grey Egerton, etc. London, 1847. 

This book is an account of Lord Grey's services in Scotland 
during the War of the Reformation. 
Volume 78. Correspondence of James VI of Scotland with Sir 
Robert Cecil and others. Edited by John Bruce, Esq., London, 
1851. 
Contains letters relative to international affairs. 
Volume 79. Letters of Queen Elizabeth and King James VI of 
Scotland, etc. Edited by John Bruce, Esq., London, 1849. 
Some Municipal Records of the City of Carlisle, etc. Edited for 
the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archeo- 
logical Society, by Robert S. Ferguson. Carlisle, 1887. 
Publications of the Scottish Text Society. 

Vols. 42, 43, Historie and Chronicles of Scotland from the Slauch- 
ter of King James the First to the ane thousande fyve hun- 



124 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

dreith thrie scoir fyftein zeir, by Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie; 
edited by Ae. J. G. MacKay, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1899. 

This and the next mentioned work contain little material 
relating to border affairs. 
Vols. 5, 14, 19, 34. Historie of Scotland by Jhone Leslie, trans- 
lated into Scottish from the original Latin in 1596, by James 
Dalrymple; edited by E. G. Cody, Edinburgh, 1888. 

Illustrations of British History, by Edward Lodge, Esq. 3 vols., 
London, 1838. 

This contains chiefly correspondence dating from 1513 to 
1618, much of which, however, was written during the reign 
of Elizabeth. A few documents illustrative of border history 
are found in this collection. 

History of Scotland during the Minority of King James, by Rob- 
ert Johnston, translated from the Latin by Thomas Middle- 
ton, London, 1646. 

Contains considerable material concerning the quarrels of 
the Scotch border nobles, but little about their relations with 
England. There is, however, a good account of the killing of 
Sir George Heron in 1575. 

Memoirs of Robert Cary, Earl of Monmouth, to which is added 
Fragmenta Regalia, by Sir Robert Naunton. Introduction by 
the Earl of Orrery, Edinburgh, 1808. 

Robert Cary was deputy warden for Lord Scrope, his 
brother-in-law, in the West March, and for his father, Lord 
Hunsdon, in the East March, and was commissioned as War- 
den of the Middle March in 1598. His memoirs were written 
when he was quite old, and the dates, and in some cases the 
details, are inaccurate when measured by contemporary sources. 
The memoirs give a lively picture of some of the raids of the 
Scots and counter strokes of the English. 

Memoirs of Sir James Melvil, of Hall Hill; edited by George Scott, 
London, 1683. 

Melvil was a trusted councillor of James and took part in 
many diplomatic affairs. His memoirs sometimes touch upon 
border affairs, especially in their international aspects. 

"Description of England," etc., by John Harrison in Holinshed's 
Chronicles, Volume I, London, 1807. 

History of Elizabeth, etc., by William Camden, etc. 4th ed., Lon- 
don, 1688. 

There is considerable material about the borders in this 
work, especially for the War of the Reformation in Scotland 
and the Rising in the North. 

Annales, or a General Chronicle of England, etc. Begun by John 
Stow, . . . continued to 1631 by Edmund Howes, London, 
1631. Contains an account of the Rising in the North. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 125 

Annals of Sir James Balfour. 
Diary of James Birrell. 

Historie of Great Britain, by John Speed. 3rd edition, London, 
1632. 

In addition to the above, the Mss. touching border history which 
are contained in the Cottonian and Harleian collections in the 
British Museum were also examined. Some of these are of 
first-rate importance, such as, for example, Cott. Ms., Calig., D. 
II, ff. 169, et seq., containing a summary of the laws of March, 
with the articles or paragraph of treaties cited upon which 
each regulation is based. Most of the material in the Cottonian 
Mss. is found in the section entitled Caligula. 

Secondary Works 

In this list works dealing with the general history of the Eng- 
lish borders are first given, then county histories, and lastly, local 
and family history; the latter part of the list contains similar 
works relating to Scotland. 

"The Wardens of the Northern Marches," Creighton Memorial Lec- 
ture for 1907, by Thomas Hodgkin, B. A., D. C. L., LL. D., pp. 
32, with map; London, 1908. 

A brief account of the history of the borders and of some 
of their customs entertainingly told. The map in this pam- 
phlet is inaccurate as to the boundary between the East and 
Middle Marches. 
"The Border History of England and Scotland," etc., by the Rev. 
George Ridpath, Berwick, 1848. 

This volume is a narrative history of the borders. Refer- 
ences for most statements of fact are found in the margin. 
"The Condition of the Borders at the Union and the Destruction 
of the Graham Clan," by John Graham, London, 1907. 

An account of the transportation of the Graemes or Gra- 
hams from the Debatable Lands to the north of Ireland, with 
a preceding narrative history of the borders. 
"A History of Northumberland" undertaken by the Society of An- 
tiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, edited by John Hodgson, 7 
volumes, Newcastle, 1820-1858. 

A more or less satisfactory type of the old-style county his- 
tory. It runs chiefly to genealogy, though containing here 
and there good material. In volume VI, there is, for example, 
a transcription of two surveys of the borders, one made in 
1542 and the other in 1550, from Cott. Mss., Titus, F. 13, and 
Caligula, B. 8. 
"A History of Northumberland," by various authors; 8 volumes 
to 1907; Vol. I, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1893, to Vol. VIII, 1907. 
The above is a county history by parishes and is not yet 



126 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

completed. Chiefly of genealogical and antiquarian importance. 

"Northumberland and the Borders," by Walter White, London, 
1859. 

A romantic history of border raids and raiders. 

"Life in Northumberland during the Sixteenth Century," by Wil- 
liam Weaver Tomlinson, London. 

An excellent and interesting account of the daily life of the 
Northumberland farmers and gentlemen. 

"The Victoria History of the Counties of England"; Volume 110, 
issued 1909, but some of the intervening volumes not yet pub- 
lished; edited by H. Arthur Doubleday. "A History of Cum- 
berland," edited by James Wilson, M. A., is to include volumes 

1 to 4 of this series. Up to the present, only volumes 1 and 

2 of the four have been issued. 

Volume I, Westminster, n. d., contains geological and scien- 
tific information and a general account of the county to about 
the year 1200. 

Volume II, London, 1905, contains the ecclesiastical, political 
and industrial history of Cumberland. Political history from 
Roman times to about 1875 is contained in pages 221 to 231; 
by Joseph Wilson and R. A. Allison. A good map of Cum- 
berland indicating the castles and towers at various periods 
faces p. 276 in this volume. 

"History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cum- 
berland," by Jos. Nicholson and Rich. Burn, 2 vols., London, 
1777. 

The introduction, volume I, contains some valuable material 
reprinted from the State Papers and from Mss. in private 
libraries. Volume II contains an appendix of documents, char- 
ters, etc., relating to the borders. 

"A History of the House of Percy" from the earliest times down 
to the present century, by Gerald Brenan, Esq., edited by W. 
A. Lindsay, Esq., 2 vols., London, 1902. 

Brenan is a partisan of the Pereies, religious and otherwise. 
An important narrative history of Northumberland. Before 
Elizabeth, it was seldom that there was not a Percy warden 
of one of the marches or holder of an important office in the 
north. 

"Annals of the House of Percy, 1030-1887," by Edward Barrington 
de Fonblanque; 2 vols., London, 1887. 

"The House of Howard," by Gerald Brenan and Edward Phillips 
Statham, 2 vols., London, 1907. 

In addition to the history of the Howard family, this work 
contains an account of the relations of the Howards with bor- 
der affairs. 

"History of the Lives and Reigns of Mary, Queen of Scotland, 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 127 

and of Her Son and Successor, James," etc., by William San- 
derson, London, 1656. 

Some account of the incidents of border history from the 
Scotch point of view is found in this work. 

"History of Scotland during the reigns of Queen Mary and King 
James VI till his accession to the crown of England," by Wil- 
liam Robertson. 2 vols., 1778. 

The appendix contains documents relating to border mat- 
ters. 

"History of the Church of Scotland" from the year 203 to the end 
of the Reign of James VI, by (Abp.) John Spotswood, Lon- 
don, 1655. 

"History of Dumfries and Galloway," by Sir Herbert Maxwell. 

"History of Liddesdale," etc., by Robert Bruce Armstrong. Part 
I, 12th Century to 1530, Edinburgh, 1883. 

This book contains valuable material for the early history 
of the borders. Part I is the only part that has been pub- 
lished. 

"Historic Tales of Scotland," by Lawson T. Parker. 2 volumes. 

A collection of romantic stories similar to those of Sir Wal- 
ter Scott. 

"The Antiquities of Scotland," by Francis Grose, Esq., 2 vols., Lon- 
don, 1797. 

This book consists mainly of pictures of the ruined castles 
and towers on the Scotch border, with a page or so of com- 
ment on each. 

"Byways of the Scottish Border," by George Eyre-Todd, Selkirk, n. d. 
An account of a pedestrian tour of Scotch border country 
from Moffat eastward to Berwick. Useful for the topography, 
etc., of Scotch borders. 

"Tales of the Border"; "Border Antiquities"; and "Border Min- 
strelsy," by Sir Walter Scott; various editions. 

Each work contains besides the romantic stories connected 
with the borders, which the books were intended to preserve, 
an introduction or appendix which is sometimes inaccurate in 
details but in the main leaves one with a clear impression of 
life on the marches. 

"Border Raids and Raiders," by Robert Borland. 

The scope of this work is sufficiently indicated by its title. 

"Chronicles of Gretna Green," by Peter O. Hutchinson, 2 vols. 
London, 1844. 

Volume I contains an interesting narrative account of some 
of the raids and incidents of the West Marches of both Eng- 
land and Scotland. Gretna was one of the usual meeting 
places for days of truce between the West March of England 
and that of Scotland. 



128 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

"A History of the House of Douglas from the earliest times down 
to the legislative union of England and Scotland," by Sir Her- 
bert Maxwell, 2 vols., London, 1902. 

Good account of the history of the Scotch border and of 
the relations between England and Scotland, especially in con- 
nection with the struggles of the king with his Catholic no- 
bility. 

"The Border Ellots and the Family of Minto," by G. F. Steward 
Elliot, Edinburgh, 1897. 

The following secondary works were consulted among others 

and in addition to the state papers in preparing the chapter on 

the financial aspect of border administration. 

"The Royal Treasury of England: or, An Historical Account of 
All Taxes — from the Conquest to the Present Year," by John 
Stevens, London, 1725. 

A brief account of the history of taxation in England. 

"The History of our Customs, Subsidies," etc., from William the 
Conqueror to the Present Year (1741), by Timothy Cunning- 
ham, London, 1741. 

Four parts in one volume; first part to the end of Reign of 
William III. 

"Taxation, Revenue and Power," etc., of the Whole British Em- 
pire, by Pablo Pebrer, London, 1833. 

"History of the Public Revenue," by Sir John Sinclair, 2 vols., 2nd 
edition, London, 1790. 

"History of Taxation and Taxes, etc.," by Stephen Dowell, 4 vols., 
London, 1884. 

"History of Parliamentary Taxation in England," by Shepard A. 
Morgan, N. Y., 1911. 

The map accompanying this essay is based upon the de- 
scription of the marches contained in C. B. P., I, 76; C. S. 
P., Dom., Add., Eliz. 1580, Vol. 27, No. 44; S. P., Borders, 
XLI, 162; collated with the following maps and plans and 
with the Ordnance Survey Maps: — S. P., Borders, XX, 138; 
Harl. Ms. No. 3813; Old Royal Ms. 18, D. Ill, f. 66. The 
last mentioned is a large county atlas of England, and is 
thought to have been the property of Lord Burghley. 



APPENDIX A 

A List of the Wardens of the Marches during the Reign of Eliz- 
abeth and until the Abolition of the Office of Warden. 

(Unless otherwise indicated, the term of service in each case 
lasted until the appointment of the new warden.) 

WARDENS OF THE EAST MARCH 

Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland ..appointed August, 1557. 
Lord Grey, of Wilton appointed Jan. 23, 1560. 

Lord Grey died December 25, 1562. 
Sir John Selby, Deputy Warden, loc. ten. . . appointed Jan 4, 1563. 

Earl of Bedford appointed Feb. 27, 1563. 

recalled . . . 1567. 

Lord Hunsdon appointed Aug. 23, 1568. 

Lord Hunsdon died July 22, 1596. 
Sir Robert Cary, Deputy Warden, loc. ten., appointed . . . 1596. 
Lord Willoughby (Peregrine Bertie) ..appointed March 25, 1598. 

Lord Willoughby died June 25, 1601. 
Sir John Cary appointed circa July 7, 1601. 

He acknowledges receipt of his commission at Berwick 
on July 11, 1601. 

WARDENS OF THE MIDDLE MARCH 

Thomas Percy, Earl of Northumberland ..appointed August, 1557. 

Lord Grey, of Wilton appointed Dec. 22, 1559. 

Sir John Forster appointed Nov. 4, 1560. 

Sir John Forster was removed from his Wardenry in 
August, 1587, on account of charges made against him. 
Lord Hunsdon, Warden of the East March, was appointed 
in his place during his trial. Forster was acquitted and 
returned to his Wardenry sometime between February and 
August, 1588, but was finally dismissed in September, 
1595. 

Lord Eure appointed December, 1595 

He asked for supersession while under charges, Janu- 
ary 22, 1598. 
Edward Grey, Deputy Warden, loc. ten. during Eure's trial . . 1597. 

Sir Robert Cary appointed circa, March 25, 1598. 

On this date Lord Willoughby took the East March, of 
which Sir Robert Cary had been Deputy Warden. 

George, Earl of Cumberland appointed June 8, 1603. 

129 



130 APPENDIX A 

WARDENS OF THE WEST MARCH 

William, Lord Dacre appointed March 7, 1559. 

Henry, Lord Scrope appointed April 6, 1563. 

Lord Scrope died June 13, 1592. 
Sir Richard Lowther, Deputy Warden, loc. ten., appointed 1592 

Lowther was still Deputy Warden on March 10, 1593. 
Thomas, Lord Scrope appointed early in 1593. 

(After March tenth and before May first.) 
George, Earl of Cumberland appointed June 8, 1C03. 



APPENDIX B 



ROLL FOR A DAY OF TRUCE 



Breviate of attempts on West March by Liddesdale, 1581. (Cal- 
endar of Border Papers I, 101.) 

"West March Anglie. A Breviat of thattemptates comytted by 
the Lyddesdaills Scotishemen within thoffice of Bewcastle and other 
plaices within the West wardenrie of Englande upon thinhabitantes 
their since Easter last past 1581. — 



THE COMPLANANTES. 

28 Marcij 1581. 
Jeffraie Sowrebie. 



TIIOFFENDORS. 



THATTEMPTES 
YTTED. 



Upon thArmstranges xij old oxen, x old 



of the Calfhils and 
Kynmont s o n n e s 
with their complices 
. . . lx Scotische- 



kye and all thin- 
sight of his howse. 



2 Aprilis 1581. Upon thEllotes . 

I s a b e 1 1 Rowtledge 30 men. 
weadowe. 



iiijor old oxen, vj 
old kie, one horse 
and all thinsight of 
hir howse. 



12 Aprilis 1581. Upon thEllotes and viij old oxen, xij old 
James Rowtledg of their complices . . . kye, one meare and 
tHill. 50 men. all his insight. 



iiijo Junij 1581. 
Riehtie Rowtledg. 



Upon thEllotes and xxxtie old kye, fortie 
their complices . . . old oxen, taking 
80 men. with open daie for- 

raie. 



24 Junij 1581. Upon thEllotes and xvten old kye, ix old 
Malle Nixson and their complices . . . oxen. 
J o h a n e Nixsons, 24 men. 
pore wedowes. 



26 Junij 1581. Upon the Crosers and ix horse and naiges. 

John Rowtledg, Jer- Ellotes. 
ardes John. 

131 



132 



APPENDIX B 



THATTEMPTS COM- 

THE COMPLANANTES. THOFFENDOKS. ■ YTTED. 

Sir Symond Mus- Upon thEllotes and xltie old kye, xxtie 
grave knight, cap- their complices . . . old oxen, and the 
ten of Bewcastle. c men and above. taking of Thomas 

Rowledg of Todhol- 
1 e s Englisheman 
prisoner, and his 
horse. 



12 Julij 1581. 
James Forster sonne 
to Adam. 



Upon thEllotes and xxtie old kie, xvten 
their complices . . . old oxen, all thin- 
c men. sight of his howse, 

and the wounding 
and mamynge of 
Thomas Batie and 
Lowrie Forster Eng- 
lishemen. 



14 Julij 1581. 
Archie Nixson. 



Upon thEllotes and 30 old kie and oxen, 



their complices . 
c men. 



the spoile of thin- 
sight of his howse 
and two of hia 
neighbors. 



Julij 1581. Upon thEllotes and 50 kie and oxen and 

James Forster of Sy- their complices ... all his insight, 
nywhait. c men. 

Ulto. Julij 1581. Upon thEllotes and xvten kie and oxen, 
Georg Armstrange. their complices. one horse, all his in- 

sight, and his sonne 
wounded verie sore 
in peril of death. 



INDEX 



Advowry, 50n. 
Alnwick, 9. 
Askerton, 10. 
Assizes, 17, 18, 19. 

Baughling, or bawlching, 72. 

Beacons, 96. 

Berwick, 7, 8; cost of garrison, 
112, 113, 114; disputes with 
warden, 37; garrison of, 97; 
goods to be customed at, 55; 
inhabitants in, 60; taverns 
in, 60; victualler, 116. 

Bewcastle, 9, 10; garrison at, 
98; independent of warden, 
12. 

Blackmail, 58-59. 

Bloody shirt, the, 74. 

Borders, cost of, 116-119; di- 
visions, 2; inhabitants to be 
removed, 109 ; map, 4. 

Border law, sources of, 46. 

Border militia, — assembly, 93, 
94; from Berwick, 98; from 
Durham, 93; other places, 98- 
99; sent to Ireland, 101. 

Border service, 57n. 

Carlisle, 9; garrison, 98; goods 
customed at, 55; offers bor- 
der service, 101. 

Castles, to be maintained, 91. 

Colonies, to be placed in Tyne- 
dale, 109. 

Commission of wardenry, 25; 
to be read at warden court, 
80. 

Commissions for redress, 75-79; 
authority over wardens, 47, 



75, 76, 79; ineffectiveness, 79; 
procedure of, 77-79; procla- 
mation to be made, 77, 79; 
settle disputes, 75-76. 

Commissions for survey, 102- 
105; authority 56; Durham to 
issue, 56; Duchy of Lancaster 
to issue, 56; ineffectiveness, 
57; proposed, 61; reports of, 
8, 102, 104, 105. 

Coroner, 19-20; of Norham, 11. 

Council of the North, 43; law- 
yer's fees, 43n; relation to 
warden, 45; reports to Privy 
Council, 44; meets once a 
year on the borders, 43. 

County Palatine, of Durham, 
93;' of Hexham, 12. 

Courts, oyer and terminer, 17, 
80; of' assize, 17, 18, 19; 
quarter sessions, 17; leet, 21; 
see also Warden court. 

Days of truce, appointments not 
kept, 72; assurance of peace 
at, 67, 73, 74; baughling or 
bawlching at, 72; disputed 
procedure at, 68; disturbed, 
72; frequency of, 65; inef- 
fectiveness of, 70-74; meeting 
places for, 64-65; not to be 
held by deputy, 48; perjury 
at, 69; procedure at, 65-70; 
to be held in uniform man- 
ner, 50; to be proclaimed, 66; 
treaties not followed at, 66. 
Debatable lands, 3-7; difficulty 
of administering justice in, 
5-6; efforts to divide, 7; how 
133 



134 



INDEX 



usurped, 6; offenders escape 
punishment, 53; value of, in 
the West March, 5. 

Decay of tenantries, 104, 106- 
108. 

de excommunicato capiendo, writ 
not enforced, 33. 

Durham, county of, to provide 
militia, 93; to issue commis- 
sions, 56. 

East March, cost of, 111, 112; 
musters in, 92-93; paymas- 
ter, 118; taverns in, 60. 

Enclosures, ordered by commis- 
sioners, 102; destroyed, 103. 

Escheats, 19, 21, 27. 

Felony, 85; compounding of, 
87-88. 

Feuds, 69, 88. 

Fifteenths and Tenths, not lev- 
ied on borders, 59; probable 
yield, 119. 

File, to, a bill, 27 ; on honor, 
69; wrongfully, march trea- 
son, 83. 

Following the trod, 48, 49, 74. 

Gilsland, 13. 

Graemes, The, 5, 17, 20, 41; 
proposals to transport, 108- 
109; their independence, 13- 
14; treatment by Elizabeth, 
14. 

Grahams, see Graemes. 

Grand jury, 78, 81. 

Harbottle, 8, 9. 

Hexham, 9, 12; independent of 

warden, 11. 
Holy Island, 11; garrison, 98. 
Houses, cost of, 104. 

Inhabitants, on borders, 92; 
Redesdale and Tynedale, 84. 



Inheritances, landed, divided, 
106. 

Jurisdiction, of civil courts, 18, 
36. 

Justices of the Peace, 18; au- 
thority of compared with 
warden, 38-39; ignorance of, 
20; to perform duties, 20; 
venality of, 21. 

Lancaster, Duchy of, 56. 
Leet courts, 21. 

Liddisdale, independent of Scotch 
warden, 70-71. 

Map of the Borders, 4. 
Marches, boundaries, 2-3; 108. 
March traitors, 84; tried in 

warden court, 84-85. 
March treason, 60, 81, 82, 84, 

85, 88; felony, 85; disputed, 

87, 107; penalty, 85-86. 
Market court, 20. 
Master of Ordnance of the North, 

107, 114. 
Middle March, cost of, 110, 111; 

musters in, 92-93; taverns, 

60. 
Middle Shires, 61. 
Militia, sent to borders, 98, 99; 

paid by county, 100; cost, 

115. 
Musters, 91-93. 

Naworth, 10. 

Norham, 8 ; coroner of, 11; gar- 
rison, 98; independent of 
warden, 11. 

Officials, county, in the marches, 
16. 

Oyer and terminer and gaol de- 
livery, courts of, 17. 

Passports, 30, 60. 



INDEX 



135 



Petit jury, 81. 

Privy Council, chooses wardens, 
23; complaints to, 41; inter- 
feres in trivial affairs, 42; 
relation to warden, 41-43. 

Prisoners — right of challenge, 
81; kept at York, 70; sup- 
ported by own nation, 70. 

Quarter sessions, courts of, 17. 

Red hand, the, 74. 
Reprisals by wardens, 31-32. 
Rising in the North, cost of, 

113; militia for, 99. 
Roman Wall, 107. 

Sawfee, 5 In. 

Scotch, intermarry with Eng- 
lish, 89, 107, 108; in marches, 
89, 90; to be deported, 90. 

Sheriff, 18, 19; to assist war- 
den, 19, 85; of Norham, 11. 

Shooting of meetings, 72. 

Slew dogs, 96, 97. 

Star Chamber, 42n. 

Statutes relating to the bor- 
ders, abolition of border law, 
61; abolition of warden courts, 
62 ; against blackmail, 59 ; 
commissions for survey, 56, 
57; conveyance of supplies to 
Scotland, 54; denning author- 
ity of wardens, 54; goods to 
be customed at Carlisle or 
Berwick, 55; horses not to be 
exported to Scotland, 55-56; 
not enforced, 60, 89, 90; 
Scots to be driven out of Eng- 
land, 55; to be proclaimed on 
the borders, 55, 56, 59. 

Subsidies, not levied, 59; prob- 
able yield, 119. 

Taverns, in marches, 60. 
Treaties with Scotland, 46-47; 



provisions of, 47-52; not ob- 
served, 52; not voided by 
war, 47, 50. 
Trod, or troade, hot, 74. 

Warden court, abolished, 62; 
grand jury, 81; miscarriage 
of justice, 87, 88; jurisdic- 
tion, 86; petit jury, 81; to 
be proclaimed, 80. 

Wardens, admiralty authority 
of, 34; and recusants, 33-34; 
appointing power, 29-30; ap- 
pointment, 22-24; as justices 
of the peace, 33; authority 
compared with justices of the 
peace, 38-39 ; commission, 25- 
26; convert escheats, 19; 
council of, 27; custos rotulo- 
rum, 84; fees, 26, 110, 111, 
112; hold other offices, 24; 
instructions to, 26-28; con- 
flicts with other officials, 35- 
39, 79, 88, 107; malfeasance 
in office, 39-40; not to deal 
with inferior Scotch officials, 
73; office not established by 
law, 53; policy of Elizabeth 
with respect to, 23; power 
should be increased, 107; re- 
lation of the Council of the 
North to, 43-45; relation of 
the Privy Council to, 41-43; 
reprisals on Scotland by, 31- 
32; to reside in march, 28-29; 
power to arrest out of march, 
35-36; tenure of office, 24, 39; 
to account for escheats, 27; 
sheriff to aid, 85; to hold mus- 
ters, 30; to obey Lieutenant 
of the North, 26; to seize 
malefactors from other parts, 
33; violate provisions of trea- 
ties, 52. 

Wardens, Scotch, lack of author- 
ity, 70, 71. 



136 INDEX 

Wark, 8. musters in, 92; paymaster, 

Watches, 95; plump watch, 95n. 118. 

Water-bailiff, 34; messenger for Westmorland, part of West 

warden, 35. March, 2; not depended on, 

West March, cost of, 110, 111; 93. 



urr 25 is n 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 






\ q 1 1 



